as in pull
the act or an instance of applying force on something so that it moves in the direction of the force
gave the man in front a tug on his shirtsleeve as a sign that he was supposed to step aside
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
2
as in to struggle
to devote serious and sustained effort
she's tugged all her life to get to where she is now in the business world
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of tug
Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering, 8 Oct. 2025
Play with them in a battle of tug of war thanks to the long design of each toy.
—Christine Persaud, USA Today, 8 Oct. 2025
Madison Dapcevich, Outside, 8 Oct. 2025
On Tuesday, Humberto will tug Imelda away from the coast and the weather pattern trying to draw it closer to land.
—Chris Dolce, CNN Money, 28 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for tug
Noun
Together, these breakthroughs promise a safe, compact, ready-to-use seaworthy fuel supply that can potentially fuel fishing fleets, coastal ferries, tug boats, and other harbour service vessels, reported Fuel Cell Works.
—Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering, 8 Oct. 2025
Play with them in a battle of tug of war thanks to the long design of each toy.
—Christine Persaud, USA Today, 8 Oct. 2025
Verb
Then, a black bear creeps in through the brush and begins tugging, pulling, and sinking its two-inch teeth into the carcass.
—Madison Dapcevich, Outside, 8 Oct. 2025
On Tuesday, Humberto will tug Imelda away from the coast and the weather pattern trying to draw it closer to land.
—Chris Dolce, CNN Money, 28 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for tug
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tug
Noun
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Held at La Valle Coastal Club in Rancho Santa Fe, the festive event featured a steel drum band, tropical bites, silent auction, opportunity drawings, a wine pull, and stories from clients whose lives have been transformed by Pathways’ legal support, according to a news release.—
News Release,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
12 Oct. 2025
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Decker knows that Minnesota does not have the same pull as the school's longtime Big Ten rivals like Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State — or even the new ones like Oregon, Washington and USC.—
Ryan Morik,
FOXNews.com,
11 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Interspliced are shots of him hauling up oyster cages, sliding a knife into an oyster to shuck it, handing a fresh oyster to a little girl.—
Sam Stone,
Bon Appetit Magazine,
16 Oct. 2025
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Now, any cars driven recklessly may be hauled to the tow lot.—
Hope Karnopp,
jsonline.com,
15 Oct. 2025
Verb
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According to Edwards, Brooke deliberately portrayed Arabella as struggling to adapt to her new home and her Canadian identity.—
JSTOR Daily,
JSTOR Daily,
18 Oct. 2025
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As the team struggles with grief, Sharon decides to pull Station 42 off active duty entirely, rather than assign a new captain.—
Alamin Yohannes,
Entertainment Weekly,
18 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Effectively, this turned the workspace into a yank buffer along with all your documents, and undoing any destructive editing operation thus became merely another cut and paste.—
Cameron Kaiser,
ArsTechnica,
12 Sep. 2025
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Visitors to China will want to lighten their grip, while folks introducing themselves to Germans should know to stop after one firm downward yank.—
Chris Ciolli,
AFAR Media,
15 July 2025
Verb
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These robots grow from their tip by turning their skin inside out, a mechanism that enables them to advance without dragging against their surroundings.—
Neetika Walter,
Interesting Engineering,
16 Oct. 2025
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But the movie’s soft-hearted underbelly fails to support that reading, and by the time the story finally arrives at its final moments, the unsparing cynicism that supplied its initial lift has been dragged back down to Earth by the weight of bland truisms.—
David Ehrlich,
IndieWire,
15 Oct. 2025
Verb
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At 41 weeks, she was induced and labored for hours before doctors determined an emergency C-section was necessary.—
Jordan Greene,
PEOPLE,
14 Oct. 2025
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Already labored by national debt levels around double the European target, in September the French economy was downgraded by credit ratings agency Fitch.—
Saskya Vandoorne,
CNN Money,
14 Oct. 2025
Noun
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The host, Scotty, is an acerbic jerk who saves his meanest digs for Richter’s Mickey.—
Kimberly Roots,
TVLine,
12 Oct. 2025
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Saddled with an uninteresting jerk half the time and a muzzled non-entity the other half, there’s only a handful of moments in the first six episodes where Powell’s star power shines through.—
Ben Travers,
IndieWire,
29 Sep. 2025
Verb
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At the same time, Newcastle teams strive for victory.—
George Caulkin,
New York Times,
16 Oct. 2025
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Managing the performance of the current car while working on the 2026 challenger is a tough balance that teams are striving to achieve, with some even ending the development of the current car.—
Saajan Jogia,
MSNBC Newsweek,
14 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Tug.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tug. Accessed 19 Oct. 2025.
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