as in bumping
to come into usually forceful contact with something
the snowball thudded against the side of my car
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Recent Examples of thudding
Footwork clatter and thudding 808s exude yearning emotion on the young producer-songwriter’s patchworked new track.
—
Kieran Press-Reynolds, Pitchfork, 13 Mar. 2026
Each must traverse more than a mile-and-a-half of terrain, through a canyon, into shadows and out, over rolls that hurl the body half a football field through the air before thudding it back down again.
—Barry Svrluga, Washington Post, 8 Feb. 2026
The latest version kicks off with a moody set piece before a gun shot and thudding drums make way for a beat that sounds like a drowning beeper.
—Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 2 Dec. 2025
The early-career excitement Spielberg generated with Duel, The Sugarland Express, Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind came to a thudding halt with the frenetically busy, hopelessly bloated war comedy, 1941.
—David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 20 Nov. 2025
Here’s where the treadmill picks up and our steps start thudding on the track.
—Steven Louis Goldstein, New York Times, 8 Oct. 2025
In 2016, when Bad Bunny first emerged, he was identified with a style known as Latin trap, a woozy and thudding hybrid that owes something to American hip-hop.
—Kelefa Sanneh, New Yorker, 17 Sep. 2025
That naturalistic, lo-fi approach might play just fine were Maxine not saddled with a heavy, thudding cancer arc.
—Richard Lawson, IndieWire, 7 Sep. 2025
With daily departures from Chicago Union station, the superliner service rumbles through Illinois chasing mile after mile of golden-red corn fields before thudding over the Mississippi river into Iowa.
—Monisha Rajesh, Condé Nast Traveler, 18 Oct. 2022
Kieran Press-Reynolds, Pitchfork, 13 Mar. 2026
Each must traverse more than a mile-and-a-half of terrain, through a canyon, into shadows and out, over rolls that hurl the body half a football field through the air before thudding it back down again.
—Barry Svrluga, Washington Post, 8 Feb. 2026
The latest version kicks off with a moody set piece before a gun shot and thudding drums make way for a beat that sounds like a drowning beeper.
—Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 2 Dec. 2025
The early-career excitement Spielberg generated with Duel, The Sugarland Express, Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind came to a thudding halt with the frenetically busy, hopelessly bloated war comedy, 1941.
—David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 20 Nov. 2025
Here’s where the treadmill picks up and our steps start thudding on the track.
—Steven Louis Goldstein, New York Times, 8 Oct. 2025
In 2016, when Bad Bunny first emerged, he was identified with a style known as Latin trap, a woozy and thudding hybrid that owes something to American hip-hop.
—Kelefa Sanneh, New Yorker, 17 Sep. 2025
That naturalistic, lo-fi approach might play just fine were Maxine not saddled with a heavy, thudding cancer arc.
—Richard Lawson, IndieWire, 7 Sep. 2025
With daily departures from Chicago Union station, the superliner service rumbles through Illinois chasing mile after mile of golden-red corn fields before thudding over the Mississippi river into Iowa.
—Monisha Rajesh, Condé Nast Traveler, 18 Oct. 2022
Recent Examples of Synonyms for thudding
Verb
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And yet the Democrat is bumping along near the bottom, a blip in polls and a laggard in the money chase.—
Mark Z. Barabak,
Mercury News,
11 Mar. 2026
-
Betty Yee is bumping along near the bottom in California’s race for governor.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
9 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Residents in several neighborhoods have been protesting at night as the capital has been plunged into darkness, banging pots and pans and shouting anti-government slogans.—
Nora Gámez Torres,
Miami Herald,
11 Mar. 2026
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Every so often, a shot sailed wide, the puck banging loudly against the glass behind the net.—
Panashe Matemba-Mutasa,
Mercury News,
11 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Now, further observations of the aftermath of the mission – which entailed intentionally slamming a vehicle into a space rock – is revealing something unexpected in the binary system of asteroids.—
Eric Lagatta,
USA Today,
10 Mar. 2026
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All forms of assault, including slamming someone against a wall, stabbing and punching, are not OK.—
Jenn Harris,
Los Angeles Times,
10 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Astronomers have tracked a powerful blast of radiation called a gamma-ray burst (GRB) back to its source, finding a collision between extreme stellar remnants called neutron stars within colliding galaxies.—
Robert Lea,
Space.com,
13 Mar. 2026
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According to sources, the driver was seen steering around security bollards, and caused a fire when colliding the vehicle into the building's front doors.—
Emily Shapiro,
ABC News,
12 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Have a little fun in the kitchen smashing the tiny spuds before seasoning with garlic and rosemary.—
Kaitlyn Yarborough,
Southern Living,
14 Mar. 2026
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Irons pounds the drums like Bam-Bam smashing on two garbage-can lids.—
Owen Gleiberman,
Variety,
13 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Read All About It A defunct NASA satellite is crashing back to Earth, with a small risk of falling debris.—
Marissa Martinez,
NBC news,
11 Mar. 2026
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The victim in the vehicle told police that the moped had failed to stop at a stop sign, crashing into her car, and leading her to lose control of her vehicle.—
Colleen Cronin,
Boston Herald,
10 Mar. 2026
Verb
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The 13-year-old allegedly punched Hernandez-Lopez multiple times in the face, knocking him unconscious before deputies arrived, the sheriff’s office said.—
Michael Sinkewicz,
FOXNews.com,
12 Mar. 2026
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Monaco, despite being reduced to 10 men in both legs, also came unexpectedly close to knocking them out of the play-offs.—
James Horncastle,
New York Times,
12 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Police departments across South Florida are reassuring the community Thursday night that their officers are on high alert following an armed attacker ramming his truck into one of the nation’s largest Reform synagogues in Michigan earlier in the day.—
Devoun Cetoute,
Miami Herald,
12 Mar. 2026
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Authorities say the suspect in Thursday's attack is dead after ramming a truck into the building and being confronted by security.—
DeJanay Booth-Singleton,
CBS News,
12 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Thudding.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/thudding. Accessed 19 Mar. 2026.
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