THUDDING Synonyms: 40 Similar and Opposite Words

thudding

verb

present participle of thud

as in bumping

to come into usually forceful contact with something the snowball thudded against the side of my car

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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 thudding The players actually are doing a pretty good job of thudding each other without crossing the line. — Pat Leonard, New York Daily News, 7 Aug. 2026 Running backs earn trust not just through their burst past thudding defenders in no-tackle practices, but especially through their pass-protection ability and receiver capabilities. — Cam Inman, Mercury News, 24 July 2026 But the data center surge could come to a sudden, thudding halt if those big companies do not soon see a return on their investment. — Joel Mathis, TheWeek, 2 July 2026 This music is often so simplistic—tenth-grade emo-thirst-trap-core with yearning synths, thudding drums, and maybe a lick of guitar—that a machine could do it too. — Kieran Press-Reynolds, Pitchfork, 25 June 2026 Some place where the days were days and the nights fell with thudding certainty. — Literary Hub, 17 June 2026 My heart begins thudding in time with her step. — Danielle Parker, CBS News, 9 June 2026 The mantra is set against the kind of thudding club beat that defined the earliest phases of her career. — Larisha Paul, Rolling Stone, 2 May 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

Recent Examples of Synonyms for thudding

Verb

These combined create a soundscape that'll keep you bumping and immersed in your audio.

— George Yang, PC Magazine, 29 Sep. 2026
Simply bumping the protein number on a label doesn’t produce those outcomes on its own.

— Ryan Brennan, Miami Herald, 23 Sep. 2026

Definition of bumping

Verb

Donalds’ speech ran the gamut of Republican campaign points, from slamming COVID lockdowns to border crossings.

— Claire Heddles, Miami Herald, 1 Oct. 2026
On the same day, HHS senior adviser Calley Means doubled down on the claim, posting on X that Kennedy is doing so well that Democratic operatives are slamming the FDA for doing its job by conducting food recalls.

— Stephanie Armour, CBS News, 28 Sep. 2026

Definition of slamming

Verb

During the flyby, JUICE came to within 5,370 miles ( 8640 kilometers) of Earth, with careful adjustments made to help the probe avoid colliding with satellites around our planet.

— Robert Lea, Space.com, 28 Sep. 2026
Instead of quitting cold turkey, a growing group is carving out intentional pockets of offline time, a move that’s colliding with the analog aesthetic revival, phone-free spaces and friction tools designed to hand control back to the user.

— Ashley Lynch, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 24 Sep. 2026

Definition of colliding

Verb

But of the leaders of those three mega-bands, perhaps the most mysterious remains Pete Townshend, The Who’s songwriter and enigmatic eminence, thrashing chords and smashing guitars while Roger Daltrey handled lead vocals.

— Matthew Carey, Deadline, 3 Oct. 2026
How would Flock stop someone from smashing a car window in the dead of night on a street where no camera is watching?

— Greg Rosalsky, NPR, 2 Oct. 2026

Definition of smashing

Verb

But alas, eventually all involved have to get down to business and actually contend with the plot beats of Hoover’s story, which is when the movie careens off a cliff, plummeting past so-bad-it’s-good and crashing on the rocks of agonizingly dumb.

— Richard Lawson, HollywoodReporter, 30 Sep. 2026
Earlier test flights ventured no farther than the Indian Ocean halfway around the world, often crashing in flames and briefly skimming space.

— Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 29 Sep. 2026

Definition of crashing

Verb

For those who missed it, Stephens hit a sliding Moore in the helmet during the second quarter, knocking Moore out of the game and sending the star quarterback to the hospital down the street on a stretcher.

— Zach Dean OutKick, FOXNews.com, 30 Sep. 2026
To get the coach's side of the story, CBS News Detroit tried calling her, reaching out to her on social media, knocking on her door and writing her a letter.

— Julia Avant, CBS News, 29 Sep. 2026

Definition of knocking

Verb

The son of Israel’s ambassador to the United States was critically injured Tuesday in a car-ramming attack in the West Bank, according to officials.

— Emily Hallas, The Washington Examiner, 23 Sep. 2026
The ramming attack occurred just days after a shooting in the West Bank on the eve of the Jewish high holiday of Yom Kippur.

— Oren Liebermann, CNN Money, 23 Sep. 2026

Definition of ramming

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thudding

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“Thudding.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/thudding. Accessed 7 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of thudding

verb

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