1
thumb one's nose (at)
2 of 2phrase
as in hate
to show contempt for
You shouldn't thumb your nose at janitorial staff; they spend all day cleaning up after you.
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
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Recent Examples of thumb
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 26 Mar. 2025
Maine high school athlete Cassidy Carlisle expounded on her message to Gov. Janet Mills as the state continued to thumb its nose as President Donald Trump and maintain its transgender-athlete policies in girls' and women’s sports.
—Ryan Gaydos, Fox News, 24 Mar. 2025
Williams seemed to thumb his nose at the proceedings.
—Ronan Farrow, The New Yorker, 24 Mar. 2025
After which, stop and consider wind and solar not as energy concepts that require federal subsidies, but concepts that should be allowed to compete in marketplaces free of proverbial government thumbs on proverbial scales.
—John Tamny, Forbes, 12 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for thumb
Verb
What’s worse is, some of the guilty ones thumb their noses at the state and refuse to pay fines, forcing the state to go to court.
—Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 26 Mar. 2025
Maine high school athlete Cassidy Carlisle expounded on her message to Gov. Janet Mills as the state continued to thumb its nose as President Donald Trump and maintain its transgender-athlete policies in girls' and women’s sports.
—Ryan Gaydos, Fox News, 24 Mar. 2025
Williams seemed to thumb his nose at the proceedings.
—Ronan Farrow, The New Yorker, 24 Mar. 2025
After which, stop and consider wind and solar not as energy concepts that require federal subsidies, but concepts that should be allowed to compete in marketplaces free of proverbial government thumbs on proverbial scales.
—John Tamny, Forbes, 12 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for thumb
Recent Examples of Synonyms for thumb
Verb
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As flames advanced toward the Tel Aviv-to-Jerusalem highway, many people abandoned their cars and fled on foot or hitched rides with other vehicles heading in the opposite direction.—
Ibrahim Hazboun and Elena Becatoros,
Los Angeles Times,
30 Apr. 2025
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But perhaps the most serious rebuke to the liberal international order has come from inside the democracies, where populist parties have hitched economic grievances, anti-immigrant sentiments, and the loss of faith in their own elites and institutions to an authoritarian domestic turn.—
Margaret MacMillan,
The Atlantic,
30 Apr. 2025
Verb
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Its innovative dial was made to flip over so the metal back case would face the sun while on the wrist during a match, so the dial wouldn’t get damaged.—
Paige Reddinger,
Robb Report,
3 May 2025
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Judge joined this exclusive club when the calendar flipped on Thursday.—
Dan Freedman,
Forbes.com,
3 May 2025
Verb
-
Clyde has said that he’ll be devastated to leave his playoff booth duties behind, and local Knicks supporters who hang on his every word for six months each year are equally bummed at the prospect.—
Anthony Crupi,
Sportico.com,
2 May 2025
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If you’re bummed out that your hot, famous wife makes a lot of money at work, that sounds like a personal problem to me!—
Emma Specter,
Vogue,
1 May 2025
Verb
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This is because of the increasing demands for networking and switches to connect exponentially larger clusters, from spine to leaf in the front end and back end, rack to rack and accelerator to accelerator.—
Beth Kindig,
Forbes,
19 Dec. 2024
-
Such a cacophony means that the reader keeps having to leaf back to make sense of the storyline.—
Ruth Margalit,
The New York Review of Books,
30 Mar. 2023
Verb
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Rosemary hitchhiked to the prison wearing a simple crepe and silk shawl to comfort her husband, brushing aside fears about the Zodiac Killer operating in the area.—
Susannah Cahalan,
Rolling Stone,
17 Apr. 2025
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The complaint alleges that staff regularly sent students unattended to hitchhike for errands.—
Glynis Kazanjian,
Baltimore Sun,
7 Apr. 2025
Verb
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Even better, Rove doesn’t mark up or skim the margins.—
Jeff Fromm,
Forbes.com,
29 Apr. 2025
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On a June morning in 2023, David and his wife had just finished a hike and were snacking on crispbreads and cheese at a picnic table in a park near their apartment when David skimmed his cellphone.—
Serge F. Kovaleski,
New York Times,
29 Apr. 2025
Video
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Cite this Entry
“Thumb.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/thumb. Accessed 18 May. 2025.
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