LIMPING Synonyms: 87 Similar and Opposite Words

limping 1 of 2

noun

as in exhaustion

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limping

2 of 2

verb

present participle of limp

as in shuffling

to walk while favoring one leg she limped all day after stubbing her toe on the lawn sprinkler

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in stumbling

to proceed or act clumsily or ineffectually the damaged boat limped back into port

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in dragging

to move slowly we'll have to stop limping if we are ever going to make our destination in time

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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 limping

Noun

While many symptoms overlap between species, Koehler says dogs commonly develop lethargy, fever, limping, stiff or swollen joints, pale gums, bruising, or abnormal bleeding. — Olivia McIntosh, Martha Stewart, 15 July 2026 In recent days, young Knicks fans have been made to digest from their dreary Boomer elders heavy doses of old-timey hoops lore, but mainly about the 1970 title series, featuring Willis Reed’s limping, yet noble appearance in Game Seven, his injured leg shot up with painkillers. — David Remnick, New Yorker, 14 June 2026 Carter did not look good limping off the practice field. — Pat Leonard, New York Daily News, 8 June 2026 With the Bulls’ season limping toward a finish and the transfer portal opening tomorrow, Chapel Hill clearly didn’t want to wait. — Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 6 Apr. 2026 The chopper flew across New York harbor and landed at a Manhattan heliport, where Maduro, limping, was loaded into an armored vehicle. — Michael R. Sisak, Chicago Tribune, 5 Jan. 2026 South Carolina wide receiver Nyck Harbor scored on an 80-yard reception in the second quarter and ran into the tunnel limping following the play. — CBS News, 16 Nov. 2025 Springer fell to the ground in pain and was eventually helped off the field limping. — Paulina Dedaj, FOXNews.com, 18 Oct. 2025 Once off the field, Burrow was observed limping in the tunnel of the stadium with no shoe on his left foot. — Rohan Nadkarni, NBC news, 14 Sep. 2025

Verb

In the first inning, Garcia came up limping after attempting to round third base on Salvador Perez’s line drive toward the shortstop. — Kansas City Star, 20 Aug. 2026 Miles, still limping, was well enough to appear in the audience for Minnesota’s postgame press conference. — Marcus Thompson Ii, New York Times, 20 Aug. 2026 Outside linebacker Kyle Kennard exited practice with a trainer after limping off the field. — Joaquin Ruiz, Los Angeles Times, 18 Aug. 2026 Alonso was checked by trainers after his single in the 10th and appeared to be limping but stayed in the game. — ABC News, 15 Aug. 2026 Some even keep limping along for years after the charging port quits, relying on a wireless charging puck instead. — Bydoug Ashburn, Encyclopedia Britannica, 5 Aug. 2026 The Yankees are limping towards the trade deadline with Aaron Judge (ribs), Giancarlo Stanton (calf), and Clay Bellinger (hamstring) all out. — Mike Barner, Forbes.com, 31 July 2026 But Machado did not move well on the bases later in the game and was limping after the game in the clubhouse. — Jeff Sanders, San Diego Union-Tribune, 9 July 2026 President Emmanuel Macron is limping to the end of his administration as an unpopular and more and more ineffective-looking figure. — Eliot A. Cohen, The Atlantic, 9 July 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for limping

Noun

Economic exhaustion and an atmosphere of fear have left virtually no part of Iranian existence untouched.

— Greg Dixon, NPR, 28 Aug. 2026
That means, for example, Jason and Lucia can gain or lose weight, build muscle and incur physical markers of exhaustion.

— Angela Yang, NBC news, 27 Aug. 2026

Definition of exhaustion

Verb

The bull riders—including the current champion, 20-year-old John Crimber—stand with their cowboy hat over their heart, boots shuffling nervously in the dirt.

— Christine Lennon, Condé Nast Traveler, 30 Aug. 2026
There must have been a hundred of us there, circling the truck, clambering onto its hood, shuffling and shimmying and twerking with abandon.

— Taran Dugal, New Yorker, 30 Aug. 2026

Definition of shuffling

Verb

Unlike other festivals, where audiences can be more forgiving, stumbling out of the gate at Venice can prove impossible for a contender to recover from.

— Nate Jones, Vulture, 2 Sep. 2026
Analysis from Zeki Data shows that where OpenAI and Anthropic are making gains in the AI talent market, Google DeepMind (and to some extent Meta) are stumbling.

— Andrew Nusca, Fortune, 28 Aug. 2026

Definition of stumbling

Verb

In addition, people are urged to secure to chains to avoid dragging and potential spark and not to toss cigarette butts out of vehicles.

— Tim Fang, CBS News, 27 Aug. 2026
As mentioned previously, Babcock obstinately played a late-career Marleau in significant minutes during his time in Toronto with dragging results.

— Janson Duench, New York Times, 25 Aug. 2026

Definition of dragging

Noun

Warships may board vessels suspected of piracy, slave trading, statelessness or false flagging.

— John Calabrese, The Conversation, 6 July 2026
The footnote says that while the locations of some gas lines were marked with painting and flagging, the location of the gas line that was struck by a third-party contractor had not been identified and marked.

— Matthew Ablon, CBS News, 1 July 2026

Definition of flagging

Verb

This was prompted by Moises Caicedo’s fitness — deemed unable to appear against Fulham and coming on late against Brighton before hobbling off again soon after.

— Jon Mackenzie, New York Times, 1 Sep. 2026
Brendan McDermid | Reuters A Goldman Sachs partner leading one of the bank’s flagship artificial intelligence projects warned that AI’s spread across Wall Street risks hobbling the thinking capabilities of the next generation of financiers.

— Hugh Son, CNBC, 24 Aug. 2026

Definition of hobbling

Verb

The papers served to underline how central banks are struggling to keep up with challenges introduced by technology.

— Maria Eloisa Capurro, Fortune, 29 Aug. 2026
The longer the current situation continues, the greater the strain on an economy already struggling with shortages, inflation and restrictions on trade.

— Hamidreza Azizi, Time, 29 Aug. 2026

Definition of struggling

Verb

An ancient Nazi scientist (Dan Stevens) crawling across a carpet to lick a woman’s stilettoed foot.

— Angie Han, HollywoodReporter, 31 Aug. 2026
Classicist and Roman plumbing expert Ann Olga Koloski-Ostrow suggests that private toilets might have been cut off from the municipal sewers to prevent animals crawling up the pipes and into homes.

— Andrew Coletti, Popular Science, 27 Aug. 2026

Definition of crawling

Browse Nearby Words

limpidness

limping

limpness

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Style

“Limping.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/limping. Accessed 6 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of limping

noun

verb

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