as in stabbing
to urge or push forward with or as if with a pointed object
gently spurred the horse with his heels
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Recent Examples of spurring
Meanwhile, Beijing forbids any export of gold without a special license, spurring analysts to conclude that the official figure of 2,530 tons held by the People’s Bank of China is farcically low.
—
Charlie Campbell, Time, 15 Oct. 2025
Weiss is only in the earliest part of her tenure, but her presence at CBS News is already spurring scrutiny of a news division that hasn’t been seen since NBC News lured Megyn Kelly there from Fox News Channel in 2017.
—Brian Steinberg, Variety, 10 Oct. 2025
This is an extraordinary outcome spurring from an awful act.
—Nicole Russell, USA Today, 9 Oct. 2025
One piece of legislation spurring the industry to action on traceability is the United States’ Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), which bars imports tied to China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
—Sarah Jones, Sourcing Journal, 7 Oct. 2025
Advanced reactors are moving from concept to construction, power demand is spurring restarts, utilities are planning license renewals and uprates for the existing fleet, and federal policy continues to call for rapid growth of this resilient, carbon-free power source.
—Kathryn Huff, MSNBC Newsweek, 6 Oct. 2025
In the two decades that followed, nationalization was embraced by former colonies across Asia and Latin America, spurring the United States and wealthy European nations to start prioritizing domestic resource extraction.
—Scott W. Stern, The Atlantic, 2 Oct. 2025
Glutamate triggers a bunch of positive ions to flood into a neuron, increasing its internal voltage and spurring it to fire an action potential, a strong burst of electricity that travels down a nerve fiber and makes the neuron release its own set of molecules to communicate with others, and so on.
—Yasemin Saplakoglu, Quanta Magazine, 29 Sep. 2025
Photos of the agents kneeling soon circulated online, spurring anger among some of the agents’ colleagues and a number of conservative politicians.
—Toria Sheffield, PEOPLE, 27 Sep. 2025
Charlie Campbell, Time, 15 Oct. 2025
Weiss is only in the earliest part of her tenure, but her presence at CBS News is already spurring scrutiny of a news division that hasn’t been seen since NBC News lured Megyn Kelly there from Fox News Channel in 2017.
—Brian Steinberg, Variety, 10 Oct. 2025
This is an extraordinary outcome spurring from an awful act.
—Nicole Russell, USA Today, 9 Oct. 2025
One piece of legislation spurring the industry to action on traceability is the United States’ Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), which bars imports tied to China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
—Sarah Jones, Sourcing Journal, 7 Oct. 2025
Advanced reactors are moving from concept to construction, power demand is spurring restarts, utilities are planning license renewals and uprates for the existing fleet, and federal policy continues to call for rapid growth of this resilient, carbon-free power source.
—Kathryn Huff, MSNBC Newsweek, 6 Oct. 2025
In the two decades that followed, nationalization was embraced by former colonies across Asia and Latin America, spurring the United States and wealthy European nations to start prioritizing domestic resource extraction.
—Scott W. Stern, The Atlantic, 2 Oct. 2025
Glutamate triggers a bunch of positive ions to flood into a neuron, increasing its internal voltage and spurring it to fire an action potential, a strong burst of electricity that travels down a nerve fiber and makes the neuron release its own set of molecules to communicate with others, and so on.
—Yasemin Saplakoglu, Quanta Magazine, 29 Sep. 2025
Photos of the agents kneeling soon circulated online, spurring anger among some of the agents’ colleagues and a number of conservative politicians.
—Toria Sheffield, PEOPLE, 27 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for spurring
Verb
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The 33-year-old suspect in the Kroger Marketplace stabbing in Southgate was acting in self-defense while being punched at work, according to the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office.—
Natalie Davies,
Freep.com,
13 Oct. 2025
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And when her neighbor horrifyingly begins stabbing herself repeatedly.—
Frank Scheck,
HollywoodReporter,
10 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
Meanwhile, Bad Bunny has commented little, save for an SNL monologue poking fun at the situation.—
Rolling Stone,
Rolling Stone,
12 Oct. 2025
-
The bit kicked off by poking fun at the Senate hearing that took place earlier this week.—
McKinley Franklin,
HollywoodReporter,
12 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Anthropic’s Claude wanted to know whether my headache was tension-related, due to sinus pressure, or something else entirely—hardly a goading question.—
Lila Shroff,
The Atlantic,
22 Sep. 2025
Verb
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In some cases, like my request for headache tips, bots end their messages with prodding follow-up questions.—
Lila Shroff,
The Atlantic,
22 Sep. 2025
-
Wissa was an important signing, someone to take the pressure off Woltemade while simultaneously prodding him.—
George Caulkin,
New York Times,
11 Sep. 2025
Verb
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But their expert digging skills leave behind multiple tunnels that mar your lawn and make mowing difficult.—
Arricca Elin SanSone,
Southern Living,
17 Oct. 2025
-
While digging there, archaeologists found artifacts — both written and visual — that offered clues to ancient culinary practices.—
Andrea Margolis,
FOXNews.com,
15 Oct. 2025
Verb
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But Vrabel’s methods are working, because the Patriots are exceeding expectations and punching above their weight atop the AFC East standings.—
Doug Kyed,
Boston Herald,
16 Oct. 2025
-
The video, which has more than 1,000 shares, captured a woman punching another woman on a counter when a man with a gray shirt walked up to them.—
Sarah Rumpf-Whitten , Adriana James-Rodil,
FOXNews.com,
15 Oct. 2025
Verb
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The scores reflected the judges' differing opinions, with Hough downgrading from his eight of last week to a score of seven and Inaba nudging up to an eight.—
Maureen Lee Lenker,
Entertainment Weekly,
8 Oct. 2025
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As the new month begins on October 1st, Juno enters Sagittarius and lights up your communication and curiosity sector, nudging you to speak from your gut instead of your script.—
Dossé-Via Trenou,
Refinery29,
29 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Even 6 inches of moving water can pose a serious risk of knocking you off your feet.—
NC Weather Bot,
Charlotte Observer,
12 Oct. 2025
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After being discovered, the woman shoves Lo's head into the wall, knocking her unconscious, and locks her away in a storage room deep within the yacht.—
Keith Langston,
PEOPLE,
11 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Spurring.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/spurring. Accessed 19 Oct. 2025.
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