muscles

verb

present tense third-person singular of muscle
1
as in forces
to cause (a person) to give in to pressure he was muscled out of command by his opponents at military headquarters

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in pushes
to force one's way muscling straight through the packed crowd of people waiting to board the ship

Synonyms & Similar Words

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 muscles Which muscles the farmer’s walk targets The move works nearly the entire body, but leg muscles, the core and shoulder muscles carry most of the load. — Hanna Wickes, Miami Herald, 24 July 2026 One year later, the XFL muscles its way onto the national sports scene with its first two games. — Assistant Sports Editor, Los Angeles Times, 3 Feb. 2026 Gringo Films does not sound like the kind of company that muscles its way into the global animation business. — Scott Roxborough, HollywoodReporter, 29 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for muscles
  1. forces
  2. pushes
  3. compels
  4. shoulders
  5. coerces
  6. elbows
  7. squeezes
Verb
  • Sending $200 to Sub-Saharan Africa still costs about 8% on average, and correspondent banking still forces companies to park idle cash around the world.
    — Alex Odagiu, Forbes.com, 31 July 2026
  • Road safety experts are increasingly concerned about tech that forces drivers to look away from the road to tap physical screens.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 30 July 2026
Definition of forces
Verb
  • That jumps from his previous $45 million average and pushes him to the top of the quarterback market.
    — Pete Sweeney, Kansas City Star, 31 July 2026
  • An object displaces some of that surrounding liquid, which pushes back on it.
    — Phil Plait, Scientific American, 31 July 2026
Definition of pushes
Verb
  • Every drop hits like a quake, and each muscular beat compels you to shake your ass.
    — Kiana Mickles, Pitchfork, 17 July 2026
  • Further, since a charging order compels an LLC to re-direct distribution payments to the creditor, the appeals court further mused that such was enough to create standing since the LLCs needed to know who to pay.
    — Jay Adkisson, Forbes.com, 7 July 2026
Definition of compels
Verb
  • In the run-up to the summit, Erdogan described Turkey as a reliable ally that consistently shoulders responsibility on NATO’s southeastern flank and will continue to play a leading role in the alliance.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 1 July 2026
  • Pulisic, who shoulders the heaviest load for the USMNT, split two defenders and poked a pass to Weston McKennie, who seemed to be trying to send a cross across the goal.
    — Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 13 June 2026
Definition of shoulders
Verb
  • However, the rotation of this filament clearly dominates how the galaxies within it spin, perhaps by funneling hydrogen gas along the dark-matter filament and onto the galaxies in a way that coerces their spin while providing further fuel for star formation.
    — Keith Cooper, Space.com, 4 Dec. 2025
  • Haunted by the suspicious death of his ailing mother, Ali, a university professor, coerces his enigmatic gardener to execute a cold-blooded act of vengeance.
    — Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 14 Nov. 2025
Definition of coerces
Verb
  • Montana props himself up on a utility stool for our interview, elbows on a wood table, while holding his phone in his hand.
    — Selena Fragassi, SPIN, 30 July 2026
  • But the Heat landing Giannis elbows its way to the top of our sports marquee.
    — Miami Herald, Miami Herald, 23 June 2026
Definition of elbows
Verb
  • That not only squeezes consumers' budgets, but also hits businesses hard, especially those which are heavily dependent on fuel.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 23 July 2026
  • That not only squeezes consumers’ budgets, but also hits businesses hard, especially those that are heavily dependent on fuel.
    — Matt Ott, Los Angeles Times, 23 July 2026
Definition of squeezes

Browse Nearby Words

muscled
muscles
muscling
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Muscles.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/muscles. Accessed 3 Aug. 2026.

Copy Citation

More from Merriam-Webster on muscles

Nglish: Translation of muscles for Spanish Speakers

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of mitigate

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

7 Pairs of Commonly Confused Words

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

'Sneaked' or 'Snuck': Which is correct?

Why does English have so many silent letters?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Dutch Treat and French Leave: Eight Place-Based Compounds

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List

How long is a jiffy?

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)
See More

Popular

See More

7 Pairs of Commonly Confused Words

Dutch Treat and French Leave: Eight Place-Based Compounds

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
asap street sign
Figure Out These Acronyms ASAP You don't have to be a NASA engineer to get these...
See All