PLODS Synonyms: 159 Similar and Opposite Words

plods

verb

present tense third-person singular of plod

as in strives

to devote serious and sustained effort plodded night and day to get the assignment done

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as in stumbles

to proceed or act clumsily or ineffectually oxen plodding through deep mud

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as in drags

to move slowly plodded reluctantly off to work

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as in shuffles

to move heavily or clumsily wayfarers plodding across the sandy wastes

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Recent Examples of Synonyms for plods

Verb

Yet, this tense adventure makes a strong case that bad parents can still teach good lessons, even when a kid strives to live in opposition to their folks.

— Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 15 Oct. 2026
Katie strives to use catering companies that adhere to the teachings of the Make America Healthy Again movement, one regular guest says, which encourages the consumption of raw milk and the avoidance of seed oils.

— Aidan McLaughlin, Vanity Fair, 8 Oct. 2026

Definition of strives

Verb

The film will follow a boy (Leber), left to his own devices, who stumbles upon a secret late-night broadcast of lizards playing otherworldly music.

— Dessi Gomez, Deadline, 15 Oct. 2026
While going through Verity’s files, Lowen stumbles on her memoir, an alleged confession.

— Bethy Squires, Vulture, 5 Oct. 2026

Definition of stumbles

Verb

However, Fed officials fear that the longer the war drags on, the higher the likelihood that the spike will make its way through the broader economy and become embedded in consumer and business expectations.

— Jeff Cox, CNBC, 14 Oct. 2026
As the comet rotates, fresh ice enters the sunlight and sublimates; the escaping gas then drags entrained dust particles away from the nucleus.

— Joe Rao, Space.com, 13 Oct. 2026

Definition of drags

Verb

As energy supply struggles to keep pace with demand, those delays have drawn political attention and, finally, action, including significant legislation passed at the state level and a new bipartisan permitting reform bill proposed in the Senate.

— Dr. Sarah Kapnick, semafor.com, 20 Oct. 2026
Toxic haze has covered parts of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore for weeks as Jakarta struggles to contain fires that have scorched large tracts of Borneo and Sumatra, with the smoke drifting across the region.

— Lim Hui Jie, CNBC, 20 Oct. 2026

Definition of struggles

Verb

Six months later, the war trudges on, indirectly ensnaring much of the world by severely disrupting global trade.

— Mark Sappenfield, Christian Science Monitor, 27 Aug. 2026
Enola dutifully trudges between clues and possibilities, shuffling through crime scenes and racing around shady spaces, all of this much more paint-by-numbers than connect-the-dots.

— Kate Erbland, IndieWire, 30 June 2026

Definition of trudges

Verb

There’s also a less than 10% chance of showers, if one of the hurricanes crawls farther up the coast, according to Wofford.

— Alex Wigglesworth, Los Angeles Times, 24 Sep. 2026
Hairy-nosed wombat births are hard to spot, as after about a 30-day pregnancy, the joey crawls into its mother’s pouch.

— Devoun Cetoute, Miami Herald, 16 Aug. 2026

Definition of crawls

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ploddingly

plods

plop

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“Plods.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/plods. Accessed 21 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of plods

verb

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