as in to buckle (down)
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Recent Examples of Synonyms for apply (oneself)
Verb
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Angels starter Jack Kochanowicz walked four and hit a batter with a pitch in the first two innings, but the right-hander retired 12 straight batters — six by strikeout — from the third through the sixth before handing the ball to the bullpen.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
21 May 2026 -
Woods Richardson’s splitter has a minus-13 Run Value, tying it with Aaron Nola’s four-seam fastball for the worst pitch in baseball.—
Dan Hayes,
New York Times,
21 May 2026
Verb
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Bring the skillet to the table for everyone to dig in.—
Victoria Spencer,
Martha Stewart,
12 May 2026
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If both sides now dig in, the ensuing fight could threaten the 2027 season.—
Evan Drellich,
New York Times,
12 May 2026
Verb
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Magadan had a deadly reputation in the Stalin era, as a hub for Gulag mines where political prisoners slaved sometimes to death and produced gold and other minerals in the process.—
Ian Frazier,
New Yorker,
19 Jan. 2026
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Po’s journey begins while slaving away at his boring noodle job on the day the Dragon Warrior is to be chosen.—
Skyler Trepel,
Entertainment Weekly,
25 Nov. 2025
Verb
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Teams will use the five-week gap between the races in Japan and Miami to knuckle down at their factories and develop car upgrades that could boost their fortunes upon returning to the track in May.—
Luke Smith,
New York Times,
8 Apr. 2026
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In survival mode, many brands have been forced to knuckle down and fortify their business strategies, in hopes of setting them up for success against a difficult backdrop.—
Madeleine Schulz,
Vogue,
10 Mar. 2026
Verb
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With evacuation shelters reaching capacity as more than 40,000 people were asked to leave their homes, officials laboring to prevent an explosion at a crippled chemical tank in Garden Grove reported tentative progress Sunday in ending the crisis.—
Deborah Netburn,
Los Angeles Times,
24 May 2026
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Makar has played in every game this postseason, but was clearly laboring in Game 5 against the Minnesota Wild.—
Corey Masisak,
Denver Post,
20 May 2026
Verb
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Blow-dry bangs away from the face with a round brush or Velcro rollers for effortless-looking volume.—
Ariel Wodarcyk,
InStyle,
7 Apr. 2026
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Brian Cashman gets it all the time, but good, from Yankee fans; for them, banging away at Cashman on social media feels like the real national pastime.—
Mike Lupica,
New York Daily News,
16 Aug. 2025
Verb
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The two finished atop a crowded field that also featured Attorney General Chris Carr and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who both struggled to break through in a GOP contest overshadowed by the feud between the two front-runners.—
Greg Bluestein,
AJC.com,
20 May 2026
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Mergers might encourage other states to offer similar programs as a way of funnelling more students into struggling four-year campuses.—
Jay Caspian Kang,
New Yorker,
19 May 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Apply (oneself).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/apply%20%28oneself%29. Accessed 26 May. 2026.
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