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
Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 17 Jan. 2026
Offerings include arts and crafts, caber toss, the haggis hurl, sheaf toss and tug of war in a non-competitive environment.
—Patrick Connolly, The Orlando Sentinel, 14 Jan. 2026
Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 30 Jan. 2026
To keep little ones comfortable—and prevent them from tugging on the wires or moving too much—researchers had babies sit on a parent’s lap and provided toys to keep their hands busy.
—Clarissa Brincat, Parents, 29 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for tug
Noun
Miami came calling and, despite leading the Ducks to two Pac 12-titles and the Rose Bowl, the tug pulled hard.
—Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 17 Jan. 2026
Offerings include arts and crafts, caber toss, the haggis hurl, sheaf toss and tug of war in a non-competitive environment.
—Patrick Connolly, The Orlando Sentinel, 14 Jan. 2026
Verb
This could get strange, with punk, metal, pop, and rock factions tugging in multiple directions.
—Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 30 Jan. 2026
To keep little ones comfortable—and prevent them from tugging on the wires or moving too much—researchers had babies sit on a parent’s lap and provided toys to keep their hands busy.
—Clarissa Brincat, Parents, 29 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for tug
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tug
Noun
-
That gravitational pull extended through much of Xi Jinping's first five-year term, when China still projected the promise of profits and opportunity more than political constraint and economic contraction.—
Dewardric L. McNeal,
CNBC,
13 Feb. 2026
-
Inside, rather than succumbing to the pull of an open floor plan, Rai leaned into the home’s distinct zones and cozy nooks, which are evocative of another era.—
Linne Halpern,
Architectural Digest,
12 Feb. 2026
Verb
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The Fort Allen Volunteer Fire Company said that crews responding to the crash found a semi-trailer truck that was hauling produce and was fully engulfed in flames.—
Megan Shinn,
CBS News,
10 Feb. 2026
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Enter Tyrannio, a Greek specialist in literature and libraries, owner of some 30,000 scrolls and famed expert on Aristotle — in fact, the same man responsible for restoring the philosopher’s tattered library after it was hauled to Rome.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
9 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Engineers have struggled to close the reaction gap between human perception and machine processing without sacrificing accuracy.—
Sujita Sinha,
Interesting Engineering,
11 Feb. 2026
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De Meo was recruited from the auto industry, and his experience included turning around the struggling automaker Renault at the start of the decade.—
Elsa Ohlen,
CNBC,
10 Feb. 2026
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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Demanding papers, dragging away dissenters.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
5 Feb. 2026
-
Slave catchers could capture them, kidnap them and drag them back South.—
Jesse Wright,
Chicago Tribune,
5 Feb. 2026
Verb
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When the novel opens in Florence, in 1557, the body of the painter Jacopo da Pontormo lies in the chapel of San Lorenzo—in front of the frescoes he’d labored over for a decade, with a painter’s chisel stuck in his heart.—
Bekah Waalkes,
The Atlantic,
3 Feb. 2026
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Johnson labored through a tender calf, cramping and fatigue.—
Joe Davidson,
Sacbee.com,
30 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Smarmy jerks can get obscenely wealthy in this country just by managing other people’s money.—
Gilad Edelman,
The Atlantic,
7 Feb. 2026
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The food shies away from the typical — no crab rangoon here — for finger foods that harken to cuisines outside the South Pacific, like Jamaican style jerk shrimp skewers ($18) and salmon ceviche ($16).—
Sean Timberlake,
Sacbee.com,
6 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Because Lindsey Vonn’s comeback and crash accomplished the one goal that all sports strive to achieve.—
Frederick Dreier,
Outside,
9 Feb. 2026
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Her two oldest boys will be big parts of the men’s team, striving for their first gold since 1980.—
Michael Russo,
New York Times,
7 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Tug.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tug. Accessed 15 Feb. 2026.
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