bucking

verb

present participle of buck
1
as in yanking
to move or cause to move with a sharp quick motion the car bucked and stalled

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance
2
as in resisting
to refuse to give in to bucked the trend to outdo everyone else and just wore the same clothes they had in previous years

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in handing
to shift possession of (something) from one person to another buck each box to the next person in line, and the last person will stack them in the storeroom

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of bucking Recent price rises now see a standard Xbox Series X console retail at $800, well above its $500 launch price in 2020, bucking trends of price cuts further into a console's lifecycle. — Jenni Reid,alex Buckmaster, CNBC, 28 Aug. 2026 When one of these massive jungle fish was found washed up dead in Florida’s Caloosahatchee River in the winter of 2021, news outlets around the country jumped on the story, bucking the trend of invasives creating little fanfare in Florida anymore. — Joe Cermele, Outdoor Life, 26 Aug. 2026 However, voters across parties have been bucking the political class by voting for anti-establishment candidates this election cycle. — Saige Miller, NPR, 25 Aug. 2026 But now, in the middle of a rainstorm, their carriage has stopped and started, bucking and weaving beneath them. — Chris Murphy, Vanity Fair, 25 Aug. 2026 Gorbachev, still consolidating power, was taking a risk by bucking anti-American hawks back in Moscow and standing with Reagan to join him in officially ruling out nuclear war as a rational instrument of policy. — Tom Nichols, The Atlantic, 14 Aug. 2026 Still, he’s viewed as a politically formidable force who has a good chance of bucking the political odds. — Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News, 13 Aug. 2026 Few places have had more success bucking those trends than Somerville. — Cameron Pugh, Christian Science Monitor, 11 Aug. 2026 Causes linked to possible frailty are bucking the trend, though, with death rates from malnutrition up more than 50% from 2019. — Meg Wingerter, Denver Post, 9 Aug. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bucking
  1. yanking
  2. resisting
  3. handing
  4. jerking
  5. opposing
  6. passing
  7. pulling
  8. lurching
Verb
  • Video shows teams of workers yanking ropes to ferry locals who were stranded on an embankment flanked by a flooded river.
    — Robert McGreevy, FOXNews.com, 2 Sep. 2026
  • An Arkansas State Police trooper was captured on dashcam footage yanking the passenger of a vehicle by his hair and punching him in the face after a high-speed chase that ended in the streets of Blytheville.
    — Daniel McFadin, Arkansas Online, 31 Aug. 2026
Definition of yanking
Verb
  • Stanley is accused of blocking Rajabi’s car with his body, punching Rajabi’s window and resisting arrest.
    — Charlotte Observer, Charlotte Observer, 2 Sep. 2026
  • While half of Gen-Z use AI weekly, 48% of young working people now believe the risks of AI outweigh the benefits, and 44% of Gen-Z workers (subscription required) surveyed in one report admit to actively resisting their companies' AI efforts.
    — Michael Chavira, Forbes.com, 2 Sep. 2026
Definition of resisting
Verb
  • That scoreboard is now misleading, because the same AI wave letting those companies shed jobs is handing thousands of capable people the time and the reason to build something of their own.
    — Lisa Curtis, Forbes.com, 30 Aug. 2026
  • After missing the playoffs in 2025, Martin started off on a great note, handing a solid Mansfield program a 38-35 loss.
    — Charles Baggarly August 29, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 29 Aug. 2026
Definition of handing
Verb
  • Stuttering lines, on the left, jerking up and down, denote the rattle of guns; on the right, the lines are all but flat, as silence descends.
    — Anthony Lane, New Yorker, 3 Aug. 2026
  • Logan Howlett, got a tear-jerking send-off in James Mangold’s Logan.
    — Brianna Zigler, Entertainment Weekly, 27 July 2026
Definition of jerking
Verb
  • Hahn said that the opposing viewpoints could have been more thoroughly debated, had the project been subject to CEQA review.
    — Alex Wigglesworth, Los Angeles Times, 2 Sep. 2026
  • The majority of Paxton’s rally focused on religion, cutting costs of living and opposing Democratic nominee James Talarico.
    — Maven Navarro, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 2 Sep. 2026
Definition of opposing
Verb
  • License plate recognition uses a network of cameras on public roads that take pictures of passing vehicles, extract information about them and store it in a database for law enforcement use.
    — Daniel Lempres, Sacbee.com, 2 Sep. 2026
  • After passing through Denver, expect to ascend the Rockies, glide over Utah’s salt flats, past red rock canyons, and along the Sierra Nevadas.
    — Jessica Puckett, Condé Nast Traveler, 2 Sep. 2026
Definition of passing
Verb
  • Why TikTok livestream selling can drive big sales Three forces are pulling sellers toward livestream commerce, and Duplantis’s numbers reflect all of them.
    — Ryan Brennan, Miami Herald, 30 Aug. 2026
  • Wildfire risk is pushing insurers to underwrite hotels based on physical resilience rather than location alone, and carriers are pulling back from some markets entirely.
    — Josipa Majic Predin, Forbes.com, 30 Aug. 2026
Definition of pulling
Verb
  • The United States, which had been lurching toward entry in the Second World War, was suddenly and inescapably thrust into global conflict.
    — Tracy Grant, Encyclopedia Britannica, 7 Aug. 2026
  • Republicans see Democrats lurching to the left and embracing socialism as an opening to link their opponents to the far more radical communism.
    — Garrett Downs, CNBC, 4 Aug. 2026
Definition of lurching

Browse Nearby Words

buckets
bucking
bucking up
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Bucking.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bucking. Accessed 5 Sep. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

A List of Most Commonly Confused Words

Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

Stay Woke

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Words of the Week - Sept. 4
See More

Popular

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

The Longest Long Words List

Stay Woke
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
anagrams on a chalk board
Word Builder Quiz Vol. 2 Pick the letter that when added to a word will ma...
See All