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

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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 Panthers receiver Cataurus Hicks comes down with it and muscles his way forward in an attempt to get into the end zone. — Jordan McPherson, Miami Herald, 28 Oct. 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
  • Some of these interview subjects are performers, or at least people with years of experience talking to the press or appearing in the public eye, which forces viewers to engage in guesswork.
    — Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 13 Nov. 2026
  • Plot is the specific sequence of events that forces her through those obstacles.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 13 Nov. 2026
Definition of forces
Verb
  • Nighthawk pushes performance IBM’s current Nighthawk r2 processor has demonstrated significant improvements in quantum execution speed.
    — Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 12 Nov. 2026
  • And as sea level rise pushes tides and groundwater levels higher, soaking up the dry dirt and drainage area Florida was built to rely on, even smaller storms could cause the kind of damage seen last week.
    — Alex Harris, Miami Herald, 11 Nov. 2026
Definition of pushes
Verb
  • The order blocks the government from removing additional trees and compels advance notice before the government irreversibly alters more of the course.
    — Michael McCann, Sportico.com, 4 Nov. 2026
  • Penny’s passion compels her – unbeknownst to her controlling husband James – to get a job on the Network, filling a vacancy while co-host Cybil (Mann) is off work.
    — Andreas Wiseman, Deadline, 4 Nov. 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
  • Locked under floors of concrete and alone in his cell with just a toilet and steel bed, Jurek coerces the man in the cell next to him to bash his head in.
    — Aramide Tinubu, Variety, 30 Oct. 2026
  • 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
Definition of coerces
Verb
  • Ernest’s grandma called from the kitchen, elbows in dishwater.
    — Madeline ffitch, Harpers Magazine, 27 Oct. 2026
  • 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
Definition of elbows
Verb
  • The low-rise waist sits comfortably on my hips and ensures that nothing squeezes my midsection, and the straight leg cut is incredibly flattering.
    — Alaina Chou, Bon Appetit Magazine, 6 Nov. 2026
  • Southwest squeezes past Carter-Riverside for the final berth, but both games could go either way.
    — Darren Lauber, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 5 Nov. 2026
Definition of squeezes

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muscles
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Cite this Entry

“Muscles.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/muscles. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.

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