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muscling

verb

present participle of muscle
1
as in forcing
to cause (a person) to give in to pressure he was muscled out of command by his opponents at military headquarters

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in pushing
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 muscling The actor has also been muscling his way into movies, appearing as part of the ensemble of the 2023 Fast & Furious movie Fast 10 and in 2024’s Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare from Lionsgate. — Borys Kit, HollywoodReporter, 18 Sep. 2026 Tracking back against a two-on-one rush, Björck eliminated Aleksandr Legkov from the play by muscling him away from the inside of the ice, and then got the puck to Taillefer with a body check and a stick sweep along the boards. — Murat Ates, New York Times, 14 Sep. 2026 For now, however, investors are likely breathing a collective sigh of relief, after muscling through an anxious first half that included major geopolitical conflicts, and tremors around the potential for AI disruption. — Sarah Min, CNBC, 26 June 2026 The Antonoff of the early Bleachers albums was pop’s pint-sized pugilist, muscling his way to the front of the pack. — Walden Green, Pitchfork, 30 May 2026 Estimates that more than 200,000 could be on hand to witness the event seemed to come to fruition as beaches, parks and roadways jam were packed with crowds muscling for their place to see the fiery spectacle make its way out over the Atlantic. — Richard Tribou, The Orlando Sentinel, 2 Apr. 2026 The headache of muscling a bill through the Senate, a chamber with its own unique set of rules and senator privileges, was enough to keep Thune from pursuing reconciliation until this week. — David Sivak, The Washington Examiner, 28 Mar. 2026 Both teams were hot then, and the game was competitive down into the final minutes in Gainesville, with Florida muscling it out. — Noah White, Miami Herald, 7 Mar. 2026 Held is in good company at Goldman Sachs, where former pros are muscling their distinct skill sets to succeed in new careers. — Emma Burleigh, Fortune, 22 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for muscling
  1. forcing
  2. pushing
  3. coercing
  4. squeezing
  5. compelling
  6. obliging
  7. obligating
  8. driving
Verb
  • Rather than forcing you to adapt to a permanently stitched grid of elastic loops, the M3 utilizes heavy-duty, modular pages.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 29 Sep. 2026
  • The wars caused massive destruction of religious and civic buildings, mills and mines, housing, crops, herds and transport infrastructure, damaging prosperity and forcing some people to move or starve.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 28 Sep. 2026
Definition of forcing
Verb
  • Minh Connors | Bloomberg | Getty Images Coming off the successful launch of its Muse AI agent, Meta is now pushing its new artificial intelligence service into the business world.
    — Isabel O'Brien, CNBC, 29 Sep. 2026
  • That visibility gives leaders the leverage to address the underlying constraints instead of asking teams to keep pushing against them.
    — Angela Palo, Forbes.com, 29 Sep. 2026
Definition of pushing
Verb
  • Playing that cat, a work camp warden coercing Hawke’s character into smuggling gold through the wilderness, is none other than Russell Crowe.
    — Jack Smart, PEOPLE, 1 Sep. 2026
  • But in the past, these efforts were largely aimed at threatening or coercing Washington to act in their favor.
    — Dina Esfandiary, Foreign Affairs, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of coercing
Verb
  • Moreover, the short extension of the trade armistice only underscores its fragility; Beijing is still squeezing flows of rare earths to extract concessions from the US and coerce its allies, including Japan.
    — Andy Browne, semafor.com, 26 Sep. 2026
  • That high pressure and the burgeoning nor’easter are squeezing the air between them, increasing wind speeds along the East Coast.
    — Mary Gilbert, CNN Money, 24 Sep. 2026
Definition of squeezing
Verb
  • The state’s campaign watchdog can seek a court order compelling an influencer to disclose that they were paid, but that can take months.
    — Sophie Austin, Fortune, 8 Aug. 2026
  • This trend could displace hundreds of thousands of older adults, compelling them to select new Medicare Advantage plans.
    — Bruce Japsen, Forbes.com, 2 Aug. 2026
Definition of compelling
Verb
  • Recipe development can be a self-effacing task, obliging the writer to anticipate the appetites and routines of her imagined reader.
    — Hannah Goldfield, New Yorker, 7 Sep. 2026
  • First is to prevent their further migration by enforcing an international treaty obliging national authorities to treat ballast waters inside incoming ships that may carry such species.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 30 July 2026
Definition of obliging
Verb
  • Your 11th House of Friends lights up as the life-giving Sun energizes that area, squaring obligating Saturn in your 8th House of Intimacy and Shared Resources.
    — Tarot.com, Baltimore Sun, 6 July 2026
  • The unions argue that carrying out permanent layoffs during a funding lapse violates the Antideficiency Act, which bars agencies from obligating funds without congressional authorization, and exceeds executive authority under the Administrative Procedure Act.
    — Robert Alexander, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 Oct. 2025
Definition of obligating
Verb
  • Suppressing this same pathway produced the opposite result, limiting the ability to switch behavior, driving longer bouts of the repetitive behavior, as per the release.
    — Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering, 28 Sep. 2026
  • Prince William has remained silent ever since Prince Harry and Meghan Markle moved back to the UK, which is allegedly driving the Duchess of Sussex mad.
    — Allison DeGrushe, StyleCaster, 27 Sep. 2026
Definition of driving

Browse Nearby Words

muscles
muscling
muscular
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Cite this Entry

“Muscling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/muscling. Accessed 30 Sep. 2026.

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