How to Use muscle in a Sentence

muscle

1 of 2 noun
  • She has a strained muscle in her back.
  • She doesn't have the muscle to lift something so heavy.
  • She started lifting weights to build muscle.
  • He pulled a muscle playing tennis.
  • One late-night host did flex the muscle.
    — Steven Zeitchik, HollywoodReporter, 16 Mar. 2026
  • Squeeze the back muscles on the left side.
    — Leoni Jesner, Health, 1 Nov. 2025
  • Weight loss on its own can change muscle, bone and more.
    — Bethany Brookshire, Scientific American, 29 May 2026
  • What the new work does show is that our muscle mass is not a blank slate.
    — Bonnie Tsui, The Atlantic, 14 Jan. 2026
  • The Chiefs asked him to use his speed, not his muscle.
    — Sam McDowell, Kansas City Star, 14 Sep. 2025
  • Have sore muscles after the gym or a long day at work?
    — Bestreviews, Chicago Tribune, 30 Mar. 2026
  • Both whey and plant protein can help build and keep muscle.
    — Merve Ceylan, Health, 28 Sep. 2025
  • Both whey and plant protein can help build and keep muscle.
    — Merve Ceylan, Health, 26 Feb. 2026
  • This has been shown to improve muscle mass and strength.
    — Sarah Bence, Verywell Health, 3 Mar. 2026
  • Chewing muscles may lose a bit of strength.
    — Sundeep Venkatesan, The Conversation, 23 Mar. 2026
  • The muscle, that courage is a muscle man.
    — Outside Online, 18 Feb. 2026
  • The point, Scott said, was to keep the civic muscles strong.
    — Graeme Wood, The Atlantic, 24 Apr. 2026
  • Your body needs amino acids to grow and repair muscle.
    — Lauren Panoff, Verywell Health, 21 Jan. 2026
  • Squeeze your upper back muscles at the top.
    — Leoni Jesner, Health, 1 Nov. 2025
  • The nerves that tell our muscles to move don’t fire as quickly.
    — Peter Mason, Outside, 21 Oct. 2025
  • This allows each muscle group to rest.
    — Jamie Friedlander Serrano, Time, 3 Feb. 2026
  • Betts strained an oblique muscle April 4.
    — Bill Shaikin, Los Angeles Times, 9 May 2026
  • Think of it like training a muscle.
    — Anna Haines, Forbes.com, 29 Aug. 2025
  • Your obliques are the core muscles that run along the sides of your torso.
    — Jakob Roze, Health, 21 Oct. 2025
  • When locked in, his shot creation shines with a mix of muscle and silk.
    — Steven Louis Goldstein, New York Times, 28 Oct. 2025
  • Our hearts race, our muscles tense, and we’re primed to explode.
    — Marc Brackett, Time, 21 Sep. 2025
  • Focus on your deep waist muscles.
    — Health Editorial Team, Health, 28 Aug. 2025
  • They're said to be rich in iron and iodine, which helps soothe aching muscles.
    — Stacey Leasca, Travel + Leisure, 23 May 2026
  • This helps muscles relax — and heal.
    — Dr. Patricia Richard, Hartford Courant, 14 Apr. 2026
  • Warm up the body by starting with your larger muscle groups first.
    — Nicole Borgenicht, Health, 17 Nov. 2023
  • Normal muscle soreness starts to ease up around days three to five.
    — Nicole Williams, AJC.com, 18 May 2026

muscle

2 of 2 verb
  • He muscled through the crowd.
  • They muscled the furniture up the stairs.
  • They muscled the heavy boxes onto the truck.
  • They muscled into line behind us.
  • Muncy should muscle up for a home run tonight.
    — Josh Shepardson, Forbes.com, 19 June 2026
  • But muscling through is not always the best choice when sick.
    — Dr. Angela N. Baldwin and, ABC News, 29 Feb. 2020
  • Its claws were large, and its arms were well-muscled.
    — Julia Gomez, USA Today, 20 May 2026
  • Time to muscle up or get muscled out.
    — Troy Renck, Denver Post, 30 Aug. 2025
  • Pfizer is muscling up in the slimdown fight.
    — Liz Hoffman, semafor.com, 30 Oct. 2025
  • Some are muscled and plank atop their kid, who doubles as an engagement prop.
    — Paul McAdory, Them., 9 Dec. 2025
  • As someone who’s been muscling their way toward recovery, this was a huge bonus.
    — Aubree Nichols, ELLE, 21 Feb. 2023
  • Danzig is shirtless, muscled, tattooed, and crouched in front of a short bookshelf.
    — Amanda Petrusich, The New Yorker, 12 May 2020
  • The 6-foot-1 Courtney has even muscled up more.
    — Bryan Alexander, USA Today, 19 June 2026
  • Holtville muscled its way to three straight titles; the Tigers settled for second all three times.
    — Don Norcross, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 Feb. 2024
  • Each side of the schism accused the other of trying to muscle their way into power.
    — Jolene Almendarez, The Enquirer, 27 Feb. 2024
  • So, the domino effect of trying to muscle through and not seeking out support isn't good.
    — Jessica Dulong, CNN, 18 July 2021
  • Giddey subbed back in and muscled his way through 5 minutes, 28 seconds of play.
    — Julia Poe, Chicago Tribune, 5 Mar. 2026
  • Nathalie, 48, was in line to ask a question, while Enya had muscled her way closer to the canopy.
    — Rick Jervis, USA Today, 14 Sep. 2025
  • While shorter, Coleman is a sturdy/bulky type who can muscle through and bounce off tacklers.
    — Jake Ciely, New York Times, 5 Mar. 2026
  • The Antonoff of the early Bleachers albums was pop’s pint-sized pugilist, muscling his way to the front of the pack.
    — Walden Green, Pitchfork, 30 May 2026
  • But 14 lucky billionaires managed to muscle their way into this elite group for the first time this year.
    — Thomas Gallagher, Forbes.com, 9 Sep. 2025
  • Bowen wasn’t the only Chihuahua who muscled up on Friday.
    — Jeff Sanders, San Diego Union-Tribune, 23 May 2026
  • That was followed by a slump when rivals led by Lilly muscled into the market.
    — Dave Smith, Fortune, 21 Oct. 2025
  • Azaria has fun with what appears to be an Israeli mobster who muscled and guiled his way into showbiz.
    — Chris Vognar, Rolling Stone, 3 July 2023
  • An abdominal brace can help support the muscled and compress the area to reduce swelling.
    — Bruce Y. Lee, Forbes.com, 7 Sep. 2025
  • His groundstrokes rip through the court, but the power all comes from timing and the kinetic chain, rather than muscling or heaving the ball.
    — Matthew Futterman, New York Times, 28 Apr. 2026
  • The men are tastefully muscled with hairless pecs that never imply they’ve been sculpted by steroids.
    — Sarah Wang, PEOPLE, 16 May 2026
  • Despite the contact, Clark still muscled the ball into the basket and then flexed toward the crowd.
    — James Boyd, New York Times, 18 May 2026
  • Karl-Anthony Towns muscled his way for baskets.
    — Michael Cunningham, AJC.com, 19 Apr. 2026
  • This is buoyant, intricate stuff, and trying to muscle through flattens and deflates it.
    — Sara Holdren, Vulture, 17 Nov. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'muscle.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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