Synonyms of pumping

pumping

verb

present participle of pump

1

as in bobbing

to make short up-and-down movements

the thighs of the bicyclists were pumping furiously as they neared the finish line

Synonyms & Similar Words

• bobbing
• shaking
• jerking
• swaying
• nodding
• jogging
• wagging
• seesawing
• rocking
• jouncing
• swinging
• ducking
• wiggling
• bobbling
• oscillating
• jiggling
• wobbling
• undulating
• dropping

2

as in interrogating

to put a series of questions to

prying neighbors pumped the guileless child for information about the family's new pool

Synonyms & Similar Words

• interrogating
• examining
• questioning
• grilling
• quizzing
• sweating
• querying
• catechizing
• picking the brains of
• giving the third degree to
• harassing
• debriefing
• pestering
• hounding
• annoying
• canvassing
• polling
• cross-examining
• cross-questioning

3

as in draining

to remove (liquid) gradually or completely

pumped water from the well

Synonyms & Similar Words

• draining
• sucking
• siphoning
• emptying
• tapping
• bleeding
• drawing (off)
• cleaning
• drafting
• evacuating
• milking
• flushing
• exhausting
• purging
• depleting
• clearing
• vacating
• voiding
• effusing
• vacuating
• decanting

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• filling
• wetting
• washing
• soaking
• watering
• bathing
• drenching
• flooding
• dousing
• drowning
• overflowing
• inundating
• sousing
• swamping
• submerging
• deluging

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of pumping

Sources told Reuters that the pipeline was already pumping at a low rate and could resume exports at the port of Yanbu on the Red Sea later Tuesday. — Spencer Kimball,justina Lee, CNBC, 22 Sep. 2026

Like law enforcement agents everywhere, they’re disposed to bickering about jurisdiction or pumping each other for off-limits information. — Angie Han, HollywoodReporter, 21 Sep. 2026

Where the water stays The hum of the engines pumping water onto the field echoes across the field. — Sean MacAday, Sacbee.com, 20 Sep. 2026

Quinten Martinez, pumping gas under a hot South Texas sun, remembers a time when fueling up didn’t require difficult decisions. — Steve Peoples, Fortune, 20 Sep. 2026

But then the night will get pumping with high-energy DJ Eric Rhodes. — Michael Deeds, Idaho Statesman, 18 Sep. 2026

Five o’clock Saturday, the Riverside Stadium and Middlesbrough head coach Kim Hellberg is fist-pumping a half-bewildered but fully enthused home crowd. — Michael Walker, New York Times, 15 Sep. 2026

Interventions can include removing trees and vegetation or constructing barriers to isolate their roots from the house’s foundations and, at the more extreme and expensive end, underpinning the house by pumping concrete beneath the foundations. — Laura Paddison, CNN Money, 11 Sep. 2026

The forest, sprawled across the Cascade Mountains’ western slopes, comes with views of peaks like Mount Washington and the Three Sisters, as well as heart-pumping trails. — Stephanie Vermillion, Travel + Leisure, 10 Sep. 2026