STRADDLING Synonyms: 155 Similar and Opposite Words

straddling 1 of 2

noun

as in fence-sitting

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straddling

2 of 2

verb

present participle of straddle

as in perching

to be in or move into a seated or standing position with your legs on either side of (something) She straddled the horse and waited for her riding partner to mount.

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Dissimilar Words

as in spanning

to be on both sides of (something) The town straddles the river. The movie straddles the line between comedy and drama.

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Dissimilar Words

as in shaking

to agree with or seem to agree with two opposite sides of (something) The politician straddled the issue for weeks.

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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 straddling

Verb

Deputies said that the vehicle continued westbound while straddling the fog line of the left travel lane, with the vehicle halfway in the road and the other portion on the grass median. — Cale Ahearn, Baltimore Sun, 29 Oct. 2026 Ultimately, six people—Skarsgård, Colman, Fischer, Wilson, intimacy coordinator Ita O’Brien, and Oscar-winning cinematographer Lol Crawley—all experimented with positions together, straddling each other in odd ways to block the scenes. — Kenneal Patterson, Vanity Fair, 14 Oct. 2026 Wiener not only leaves behind a richly complex body of work straddling textiles, painting, photographs, and collages, but also a career intricately connected to one of the most important chapters of Austrian art. — Francesca Aton, ARTnews.com, 2 Oct. 2026 Bajo Chiquito sits on the Tuquesa River at the northern end of the Darién Gap, the more than sixty-mile stretch of formidable terrain and riverine forest straddling Panama and Colombia. — Belén Fernández, Harpers Magazine, 22 Sep. 2026 As the camera zooms out, the actress is revealed to be nude straddling a basketball hoop while spinning a ball on her finger like a Harlem Globetrotter. — Kathleen Perricone, Entertainment Weekly, 10 Sep. 2026 This town sits in the Central Idaho Rockies, straddling national forests in the Wood River Valley. — Daniel De Visé, USA Today, 25 Aug. 2026 Back on ground level, The Patio is a more relaxed bar straddling the entrance of the restaurant. — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 24 Aug. 2026 An example is the rare Enantio, from the mountainous region straddling Veneto and Trentino. — Sean Timberlake, Sacbee.com, 14 Aug. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for straddling

Noun

Keeping four quarterbacks could be seen as another fence-sitting move.

— Mike DeFabo, New York Times, 26 Aug. 2026
Lower mortgage rates will spur some fence-sitting buyers into action and increase sales volumes over last year.

— Phillip Molnar, San Diego Union-Tribune, 6 Mar. 2026

Definition of fence-sitting

Verb

The bird, which some witnesses guessed was a parrot, was seen perching on people’s heads and line dividers, landing on luggage and carry-on bags and even trying to nip at some travelers.

— Charlotte Phillipp, PEOPLE, 19 Oct. 2026
No club have spent more time perching on the highest rung of English football than Everton.

— George Caulkin, New York Times, 7 Sep. 2026

Definition of perching

Verb

Investigators examined allegations involving more than 300 victims spanning from 1950 through 2011.

— Judy L. Thomas, Kansas City Star, 25 Oct. 2026
Behind every live event is a vast, complex network of businesses spanning production, logistics, staging, technology and venue operations, many of them relatively small and specialized.

— Davis Noell, Fortune, 25 Oct. 2026

Definition of spanning

Verb

Our little group is still shaking off our early morning bleariness while scattering over the rocks, bending over to peer closely into the tide pools.

— Joseph Ogilvy, Condé Nast Traveler, 28 Oct. 2026
Also available are spicy chicken breast sautéed with lemongrass, Asian basil and peanuts ($32); shaking beef ($45), made with diced hanger steak, scallion and chili, and baked Chilean sea bass ($48) with tamarind and soy marinade.

— Ryma Chikhoune, Footwear News, 28 Oct. 2026

Definition of shaking

Noun

There’s also a concern that empathy may be interpreted as weakness or that patience may be mistaken for tolerance.

— Dr. Manish Pratap Singh Chandel, Forbes.com, 30 Oct. 2026
But while Attanasio and Contreras could not have seemed happier to stand shoulder-to-shoulder and hoist the trophy, their tolerance for each other will likely wane a month from now.

— Justin Birnbaum, Sportico.com, 29 Oct. 2026

Definition of tolerance

Verb

The island has long been home to skilled ceramicists, textile makers, glassblowers, and leatherworkers, but these practices are increasingly intersecting with a more contemporary design sensibility.

— Anna Cafolla, Vogue, 21 Oct. 2026
Political stratagems in art were shifting in places like New York and Los Angeles, and the Pictures Generation’s ethos began to speak to young Black and brown artists, ultimately intersecting with their desire for representation.

— Hilton Als, New Yorker, 12 Oct. 2026

Definition of intersecting

Verb

Lastly, try ducking into Casey Rubber Stamps, founded in 1979, in the West Village, and a neighborhood fixture since 2003.

— The New Yorker, New Yorker, 16 Oct. 2026
The system lets robots choose suitable movements, such as stepping over objects, ducking under overhead barriers, or turning sideways to pass through narrow gaps.

— Jijo Malayil, Interesting Engineering, 13 Oct. 2026