as in flopping
to be unsuccessful
her intended comeback movie tanked at the box office, and once again she was relegated to TV guest spots
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of tanking
If the labor market is tanking or inflation is sticky next year, that won’t matter politically as long as workers still feel good about the economy.
—
Burgess Everett, semafor.com, 9 Sep. 2025
With job growth tanking and the economy wobbling, pressure is on for the Federal Reserve to start lowering interest rates, with markets now expecting a cut at each of the three remaining meetings this year.
—Jeff Cox, CNBC, 9 Sep. 2025
Not winning a playoff game despite tanking a season wasn’t enough.
—Barry Jackson, Miami Herald, 7 Sep. 2025
One source close to Christy says Sweeney remains a big star with enormous brand recognition, and that two small indie films tanking hasn’t hurt her career.
—Pamela McClintock, HollywoodReporter, 29 Aug. 2025
In finance, the ability to scale without tanking your architecture is the difference between growth and game over.
—Bill Capuzzi, Forbes.com, 22 Aug. 2025
Across the board, his approval ratings are tanking.
—Sara Jacobs, San Diego Union-Tribune, 20 Aug. 2025
And the only way to get tanking out of the game is to punish it with relegation instead of rewarding it with a generational draft pick.
—Sean McIndoe, New York Times, 18 Aug. 2025
Burgess Everett, semafor.com, 9 Sep. 2025
With job growth tanking and the economy wobbling, pressure is on for the Federal Reserve to start lowering interest rates, with markets now expecting a cut at each of the three remaining meetings this year.
—Jeff Cox, CNBC, 9 Sep. 2025
Not winning a playoff game despite tanking a season wasn’t enough.
—Barry Jackson, Miami Herald, 7 Sep. 2025
One source close to Christy says Sweeney remains a big star with enormous brand recognition, and that two small indie films tanking hasn’t hurt her career.
—Pamela McClintock, HollywoodReporter, 29 Aug. 2025
In finance, the ability to scale without tanking your architecture is the difference between growth and game over.
—Bill Capuzzi, Forbes.com, 22 Aug. 2025
Across the board, his approval ratings are tanking.
—Sara Jacobs, San Diego Union-Tribune, 20 Aug. 2025
And the only way to get tanking out of the game is to punish it with relegation instead of rewarding it with a generational draft pick.
—Sean McIndoe, New York Times, 18 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tanking
Verb
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The Godfather director steals the show here as an energetic, pugnacious and visionary circus ringleader who put his money where his mouth was for a project that wound up flopping critically and commercially.—
Jordan Mintzer,
HollywoodReporter,
28 Aug. 2025
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Domnhall Gleeson stars as the new editor-in-chief of a flopping Toledo newspaper tasked with revitalising its output.—
Lucy Ford,
Time,
28 Aug. 2025
Verb
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The carrier warned that incorrect declarations can result in cargo shifting or collapsing, alongside other accidents like chemical reactions, fires or even explosions.—
Glenn Taylor,
Sourcing Journal,
10 Sep. 2025
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Some were collapsing or fire-damaged, others left vacant after the house next door burned.—
Jesus Mesa,
MSNBC Newsweek,
10 Sep. 2025
Verb
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The Jays left two runners in scoring position with no outs in the third, failing to push the ball out of the infield to earn a lead.—
Mitch Bannon,
New York Times,
8 Sep. 2025
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However, the former fifth-round pick faded over his final couple of years in the Windy City, failing to reach 500 yards receiving in either 2022 or 2023.—
Matthew Schmidt,
MSNBC Newsweek,
7 Sep. 2025
Verb
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The video shows Brown seated behind the victim before pulling out a folding knife and stabbing her multiple times without provocation.—
Amanda Castro
Hannah Parry,
MSNBC Newsweek,
8 Sep. 2025
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Wild Land also packages in a standard folding mini-table that can be used right inside the tent as a low dining table or laptop workstation in conjunction with the folding mat that doubles as a lounge seat, also included standard.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
7 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Apart from buying struggling retailers, Barnes & Noble has expanded its physical footprint.—
Fernando Cervantes Jr,
USA Today,
10 Sep. 2025
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Despite the additional funding, the Advocate pointed out that some TAC offices were already struggling—as of April 15, 2025, 239 were understaffed and 21 were unstaffed.—
Kelly Phillips Erb,
Forbes.com,
10 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Nassau County police first received a description of the person who was fatally struck on the parkway and then received a call from Christopher's school roughly 15 minutes later about a missing boy, detective Tracey Cabey tells PEOPLE.—
Janelle Griffith,
PEOPLE,
9 Sep. 2025
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The same words apply to the title character at the film‘s center, the inscrutable and seemingly unscrupulous Hedda Gabler (a magnetic Tessa Thompson), here yanked firmly from the late 20th century setting of Henrik Ibsen’s iconic play into the ’50s, and not missing a single trick along the way.—
Kate Erbland,
IndieWire,
8 Sep. 2025
Verb
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For the first time, Israel launched an airstrike in Qatar, bombing a building in Doha that houses Hamas political leadership.—
Greg Dixon,
NPR,
9 Sep. 2025
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In this season of Platonic, Luke Macfarlane's character Charlie has a mental breakdown after bombing his dream opportunity to compete on Jeopardy!—
Dory Jackson,
People.com,
27 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Tanking.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tanking. Accessed 13 Sep. 2025.
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