as in flopping
to be unsuccessful
her intended comeback movie tanked at the box office, and once again she was relegated to TV guest spots
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Recent Examples of tanking
Commissioner Adam Silver could punish tanking teams by moving draft picks to the end of the lottery or the end of the first round.
—
Zach Harper, New York Times, 30 Mar. 2026
The last 10 games have essentially turned into a tanking leaderboard, and the race to the bottom is brutally tight.
—C.j. Holmes, New York Daily News, 27 Mar. 2026
The absence of defense allowed the tanking Mavericks to stay within striking distance most of the game.
—Bennett Durando, Denver Post, 26 Mar. 2026
In a matchup of teams widely believed to be tanking in order to improve their draft prospects, the Wizards never trailed and pulled ahead by 37 late in the third quarter.
—ABC News, 25 Mar. 2026
During this five-game skid, the Heat is allowing 126 points per 100 possessions; that 126 defensive rating is fourth worst in the league, ahead of only three tanking teams (Pacers, Wizards, Bucks) and a shocking number for an organization that prides itself on defense.
—Barry Jackson, Miami Herald, 24 Mar. 2026
Sure, the Bulls should shut down players such as Jalen Smith and Tre Jones — winners who can prop up the rest of the flailing offense against a truly tanking team — for the rest of the season.
—Julia Poe, Chicago Tribune, 17 Mar. 2026
Zach Harper, New York Times, 30 Mar. 2026
The last 10 games have essentially turned into a tanking leaderboard, and the race to the bottom is brutally tight.
—C.j. Holmes, New York Daily News, 27 Mar. 2026
The absence of defense allowed the tanking Mavericks to stay within striking distance most of the game.
—Bennett Durando, Denver Post, 26 Mar. 2026
In a matchup of teams widely believed to be tanking in order to improve their draft prospects, the Wizards never trailed and pulled ahead by 37 late in the third quarter.
—ABC News, 25 Mar. 2026
During this five-game skid, the Heat is allowing 126 points per 100 possessions; that 126 defensive rating is fourth worst in the league, ahead of only three tanking teams (Pacers, Wizards, Bucks) and a shocking number for an organization that prides itself on defense.
—Barry Jackson, Miami Herald, 24 Mar. 2026
Sure, the Bulls should shut down players such as Jalen Smith and Tre Jones — winners who can prop up the rest of the flailing offense against a truly tanking team — for the rest of the season.
—Julia Poe, Chicago Tribune, 17 Mar. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tanking
Verb
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Girlfriend scales the diaristic, bric-a-brac charm of Janky Star into a high-drama pop monument to trying, flopping, and trying even harder next time.—
Hattie Lindert,
Pitchfork,
20 Mar. 2026
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Cutting stems back by one-third their height will help plants resist flopping under the weight of the flowers.—
Megan Hughes,
Better Homes & Gardens,
14 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Set in a collapsing Caracas, the film follows a woman who returns home after her mother’s funeral to find her apartment taken over by an armed militia.—
Adam Bell
April 2,
Charlotte Observer,
2 Apr. 2026
-
The industry was at risk of collapsing—until the physical chemist Fritz Haber, at the behest of the German Supreme Command, managed to take a common by-product of dye manufacture and weaponize it.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
2 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Making an actual charge is another as Saturday showed with several players getting close to Coughlin, but failing to make up the difference.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
5 Apr. 2026
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His administration’s handling of the Iran war — from killing scores of schoolchildren based on outdated intelligence to failing to prepare for the closing of the Strait of Hormuz — is just the latest example of its systemic, and deadly, incompetence.—
James Speyer,
New York Daily News,
4 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Mindless chores like folding laundry or washing dishes are great for this.—
Tarot.com,
New York Daily News,
31 Mar. 2026
-
In addition to their practicality, folding bookshelves are also available in various styles and materials.—
BestReviews,
Chicago Tribune,
30 Mar. 2026
Verb
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In the poor quarters of New Delhi, households struggling to pay for gas fired up chulhas, old-school wood-burning stoves, and hoped their tinder supplies held.—
Nathan Heller,
New Yorker,
30 Mar. 2026
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Lillibridge says the prices are piling onto an already struggling industry.—
Lana Zak,
CBS News,
29 Mar. 2026
Verb
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The MorphoScan is even missing a couple of quality-of-life features present on the Etekcity scale, including a safe mode for pregnant women and pacemaker users that disables the BIA electrical current for weight-only measurements.—
Andrew Gebhart,
PC Magazine,
5 Apr. 2026
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Before the opening faceoff there was a tribute to Vancouver native Evander Kane, who returned to the lineup to play his 1,001st game after missing the last two games with an undisclosed injury.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
5 Apr. 2026
Verb
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The next day, the United States and Israel began bombing Iran, launching the country into war.—
Cora Engelbrecht,
New Yorker,
3 Apr. 2026
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Human Rights Watch has said bombing them would constitute a war crime.—
Eva Roytburg,
Fortune,
31 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Tanking.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tanking. Accessed 6 Apr. 2026.
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