inching 1 of 2

adjective

1
as in imperceptible

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2
as in ambling

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Dissimilar Words

inching

2 of 2

verb

present participle of inch
1
as in encroaching
to advance gradually beyond the usual or desirable limits every year the water inches further up the embankments, threatening to permanently engulf the island city

Synonyms & Similar Words
2
as in dragging
to move slowly the car inched carefully across the snow-covered causeway

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of inching
Verb
My first inkling that dramatic lips may be inching toward a comeback came courtesy Florence Pugh at the premiere of her new Netflix series, East of Eden. — Kara Nesvig, Allure, 8 Oct. 2026 Woodland Hills reached 106, inching past the prior record of 105 set in 2025. — Hannah Fry, Los Angeles Times, 6 Oct. 2026 Five years later, as the assembly meets this week, the world's climate commitments are dangerously offtrack, and the phase down of coal is inching along. — ABC News, 26 Sep. 2026 The video shows the water inching along its path slower than a boy calmly walking ahead of it. — Dale Denwalt, Oklahoman, 22 Sep. 2026 The agency issued an order creating a temporary pathway for trading certain tokenized stocks, inching financial markets closer to 24/7 trading. — Talia Kaplan, CNBC, 22 Sep. 2026 California gas price climbed 16 cents in the past week, inching closer to the state’s all-time record. — Sacbee.com, 21 Sep. 2026 The gauntlet makes inching closer to the panic button unavoidable. — Troy Renck, Denver Post, 21 Sep. 2026 Now, in everything from deep indigo to faded washes, denim is once again inching wider at the hem, landing somewhere between a classic bootcut and a dramatic flare. — Amanda Le, InStyle, 20 Sep. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for inching
  1. imperceptible
  2. plodding
  3. encroaching
  4. dragging
  5. tapered
  6. lingering
  7. creeping
  8. loitering
Adjective
  • Instead, his team developed SynthID, an imperceptible, incorruptible digital watermark now stamped to anything generated by Google AI, but also OpenAI, Nvidia, Kakao, and, soon, Apple.
    — Daniel Varghese, Time, 15 Oct. 2026
  • Through a meditative duet between the performer’s cognition and their autonomic nervous system, activities that were largely imperceptible to an outside observer became known to the performer.
    — Sophie Landres, Artforum, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of imperceptible
Adjective
  • Bennie Liebenberg, a former geologist at the mine who was serving as our guide, has the plodding, slightly wide-eyed manner of someone who has spent a lot of time underground.
    — James Dinneen, New Yorker, 13 Aug. 2026
  • During the early days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, activists from the gay community lambasted him and his institute for the plodding pace of research on the virus.
    — Katherine J. Wu, The Atlantic, 28 July 2026
Definition of plodding
Verb
  • Meanwhile over 100 Palestinian communities have been displaced or erased by the settler violence and the ever-encroaching sheep.
    — Lesley Stahl, CBS News, 11 Oct. 2026
  • Against encroaching social upheavals, the sovereign was resolutely the center of a mercantilist universe.
    — Sophie Landres, Artforum, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of encroaching
Verb
  • He’s also been known to engage with those who might not be fans of his comedic stylings, publicly arguing back and forth with civilians, dragging them on his social media for his fans to see.
    — Chris Murphy, Vanity Fair, 14 Oct. 2026
  • Beaches typically go through a seasonal cycle with powerful winter waves dragging sand out to sea and more mild summer waves depositing the sand back onshore.
    — Hannah Fry, Los Angeles Times, 12 Oct. 2026
Definition of dragging
Adjective
  • The Spanish royal opted for a monochrome ensemble, wearing black tapered trousers with a single-breasted blazer.
    — Julia Teti, Footwear News, 6 Oct. 2026
  • Like Middleton’s pair, these loafers have a sleek silhouette with tapered toe boxes that create a leg-lengthening effect.
    — Sian Babish, PEOPLE, 3 Oct. 2026
Definition of tapered
Adjective
  • Shohei Ohtani returned to the top of the Dodgers’ lineup Monday after four days off to address lingering aches, as the club effectively pauses its pitching program for the two-way star.
    — Maddie Lee, Los Angeles Times, 7 Sep. 2026
  • No more distractions, no more lingering questions, just a baller who loves this sport and continues to level up.
    — Colton Pouncy, New York Times, 31 July 2026
Definition of lingering
Verb
  • Finally, while work is underway to build a formal framework for economic espionage, Congress must prevent any creeping erosion of the existing norm through the potentially corrupt dissemination of intelligence to favored companies.
    — DAVID S. COHEN, Foreign Affairs, 8 Oct. 2026
  • Yep, there are more and more signs creeping in by the election cycle.
    — Joe Kinsey OutKick, FOXNews.com, 8 Oct. 2026
Definition of creeping
Adjective
  • Some victim advocates say human trafficking along Figueroa has escalated since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the rollback of anti-loitering laws.
    — Brittny Mejia, Los Angeles Times, 1 July 2026
Definition of loitering

Browse Nearby Words

inches
inching
inchmeal
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Cite this Entry

“Inching.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/inching. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

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