MUSCLES Synonyms: 56 Similar and Opposite Words

muscles

verb

present tense third-person singular of muscle

as in forces

to cause (a person) to give in to pressure he was muscled out of command by his opponents at military headquarters

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as in pushes

to force one's way muscling straight through the packed crowd of people waiting to board the ship

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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

Verb

For the third time tonight, Evans forces Winter Park to turn the ball over on downs, this time at the 8 yard line.

— Buddy Collings, The Orlando Sentinel, 11 Sep. 2026
La Gradiva takes a tragic turn in its final act that forces a reexamination of the loose, observant filmmaking that led to it.

— David Canfield, HollywoodReporter, 11 Sep. 2026

Definition of forces

Verb

Stitt pushes and unloads the heavy cart while Bayless guides the way with their list, checking off household staples like bottled water, sugar and toilet paper.

— Jessica Guynn, USA Today, 16 Sep. 2026
The constant contrast between pristine nature and industrial machinery is accompanied by a discordant synth-heavy score by composer Robert Nacken, that, at times, pushes the film along and, at others, deliberately drags against it.

— Scott Roxborough, HollywoodReporter, 16 Sep. 2026

Definition of pushes

Verb

And most of them did not choose the economic arrangement that compels them to burn that carbon, that splits labor and leisure in this way, that organizes work and pleasure around certain kinds of mobility.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 3 Sep. 2026
The deal compels Facebook and Instagram to adopt new child-safety rules, including daily time caps, school-hour notification bans, stronger age checks and expanded parental controls aimed at harmful content.

— Sonja Sharp, Los Angeles Times, 26 Aug. 2026

Definition of compels

Verb

Mary Amiti, Sebastian Heise and David Weinstein looked at who shoulders the cost of the tariffs, examining which part of the tariff reaches consumers through higher prices versus which share of the price hike is due to other factors.

— Veronique De Rugy, Oc Register, 4 Sep. 2026
Elordi nearly shoulders the running time but plays his Hig a bit too humbly.

— Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 28 Aug. 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

Where the Cayenne’s steering is calibrated so that the road nudges the driver, Bentley’s elbows back at those perturbances.

— Byron Hurd, The Drive, 27 Aug. 2026
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

Definition of elbows

Verb

People’s financial margin for error is generally pretty small, and just the rising cost of most everything just squeezes them more and more.

— Paul Wiseman, Los Angeles Times, 16 Sep. 2026
Avoiding outlier squeezes requires implementing strict criteria before entering trades.

— David Capablanca, Forbes.com, 14 Sep. 2026

Definition of squeezes

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muscled

muscles

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“Muscles.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/muscles. Accessed 17 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of muscles

verb

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