as in to labor
to devote serious and sustained effort
the writer pegged away at his first novel for three years before he felt that it was ready to be published
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for peg (away)
Verb
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The Thunder labored through a 111-103 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday in a decisive Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals.—
Mark Medina,
Forbes.com,
31 May 2026 -
With evacuation shelters reaching capacity as more than 40,000 people were asked to leave their homes, officials laboring to prevent an explosion at a crippled chemical tank in Garden Grove reported tentative progress Sunday in ending the crisis.—
Deborah Netburn,
Los Angeles Times,
24 May 2026
Verb
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As families struggle with rising costs, healthcare affordability has emerged as a defining issue heading into the midterms.—
Chicago Tribune,
Chicago Tribune,
2 June 2026
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The back-to-back deals offer one of the clearest signals yet that Abel is prepared to put Berkshire’s enormous balance sheet to work after years of criticism that the company had become too cautious and was struggling to find opportunities large enough to move the needle.—
Yun Li,
CNBC,
2 June 2026
Verb
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Her 50-something protagonist, Alan Anderson, and his socially striving wife Vivian, are at least about to start thinking about where their family is going to go, once Alan retreats to a backyard playhouse.—
Bethanne Patrick,
Los Angeles Times,
1 June 2026
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The Bears are also emphasizing ball placement with all of their quarterbacks, striving for pinpoint precision on throws as often as possible.—
Dan Wiederer,
New York Times,
1 June 2026
Verb
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The walk-off home run came after the bullpen of the Twins (27-31) had worked four scoreless innings, taking over after a four-inning start from Taj Bradley.—
Betsy Helfand,
Twin Cities,
30 May 2026
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Ciber ’s team work quickly under netting to mount a huge Browning heavy machine gun onto tank tracks.—
Nick Paton Walsh,
CNN Money,
30 May 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Peg (away).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/peg%20%28away%29. Accessed 4 Jun. 2026.
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