PUMPING Synonyms: 79 Similar and Opposite Words

pumping

verb

present participle of pump

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

Relevance

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

as in draining

to remove (liquid) gradually or completely pumped water from the well

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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 pumping Trump then turned around, pumping his fist to those sitting behind him, smiling and waving, then pointed a few times to the crowd. —

Jackson Thompson, FOXNews.com, 12 Apr. 2026 The lack of fuel has worsened the country’s other longtime problems, from pumping water, picking up garbage to producing food, among others. —

Nora Gámez Torres, Miami Herald, 12 Apr. 2026 Khurais produces the type of light crude that Aramco had been pumping through the East-West pipeline, while Manifa and Aramco’s other offshore deposits generally pump thicker and heavier barrels. —

Clara Ferreira Marques, Fortune, 12 Apr. 2026 The attack hit a pumping station on the East-West pipeline, according to a state news agency report. —

Leonie Kidd, CNBC, 10 Apr. 2026 The health risks associated with pumping gas While pumping gas is an act that most people (New Jerseyans excluded) do without thinking, there are health hazards associated with it. —

Laura Kiniry, Popular Science, 9 Apr. 2026 The lawsuit filed by the Legal Aid Society, the NYCLU, Make the Road NY, and others on behalf of eight New York residents claims they were stopped by ICE while doing everyday activities including driving their children to school, pumping gas and walking through a parking lot. —

Thomas Tracy, New York Daily News, 9 Apr. 2026 Dinner is focused around a large wood burning oven, putting out deliciously charred meats and veggies, and there’s a vibrant after-work drinks scene that always has this place pumping. —

Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 7 Apr. 2026 Two days after that, the agency greenlit Kaskida, a new five-billion-dollar ultra-deep drilling project southwest of New Orleans, which could start pumping eighty thousand barrels of oil a day as early as 2029. —

Jeffrey Marlow, New Yorker, 5 Apr. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for pumping

Verb

In a video posted by TikTok user @livingmyloylife, which was later stitched by the official Carnival Cruise account, an orange rescue boat is seen bobbing through choppy waters to meet the sailboat.

— Colson Thayer, PEOPLE, 17 Apr. 2026
Despite not being the tallest goalie, Hicks does an exceptional job of working to see through traffic, bobbing and weaving to see shot releases without sacrificing angles.

— Scott Wheeler, New York Times, 12 Apr. 2026