as in preferring
to show partiality toward
I'm leaning toward sausage on our pizza tonight—we got pepperoni the last three times
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for leaning (toward or towards)
Verb
-
As Brentford did last month, opponents allow Villa’s back three to have possession, with their front line preferring to block passing lanes into midfield rather than press the ball.—
Jacob Tanswell,
New York Times,
11 Sep. 2025 -
So instead of preferring an arm or side the way most humans do, octopuses can use all of their arms for all functions, but do have a slight preference for those up front.—
Laura Baisas,
Popular Science,
11 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
With Tracy getting the majority of the work out of the backfield, take advantage of a fantasy manager not liking his production, and add a team's RB1 who will be getting plenty of opportunities to score touchdowns when the Giants finally make it into the red zone.—
Noah Camras,
MSNBC Newsweek,
11 Sep. 2025
-
The Rare singer confirmed her relationship with Blanco in December 2023 by liking Instagram posts speculating that the two were dating.—
Brendan Le,
PEOPLE,
9 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
Kogonada fills the film with saturated colors, favoring the primary standbys of fire-engine red, raincoat yellow and mailbox blue.—
Richard Lawson,
HollywoodReporter,
16 Sep. 2025
-
The split often runs not along party lines but geography, with urban legislators favoring state mandates to spur development and suburban representatives fighting to preserve local control.—
Kate Talerico,
Mercury News,
16 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
Trumps otherwise basked in the royal limelight on Wednesday, visibly enjoying the pomp and ceremony, which included a royal gun salute, carriage procession through Windsor and guard of honor.—
Holly Ellyatt,
CNBC,
18 Sep. 2025
-
The league's punitive new CBA was designed to limit the richest teams from enjoying a significant cash flow advantage over its poorest clubs.—
Alex Kirschenbaum,
MSNBC Newsweek,
17 Sep. 2025
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.
Cite this Entry
“Leaning (toward or towards).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/leaning%20%28toward%20or%20towards%29. Accessed 19 Sep. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share