How to Use thumb through in a Sentence

thumb through

verb
  • Some watched short-form videos while others thumbed through their feeds, pausing every so often to tap a like on a post.
    — Sonja Sharp, Los Angeles Times, 27 Jan. 2026
  • Nothing, however, replaces cruising around stacks of books at a real bookstore, thumbing through the tomes that catch your eye.
    — Terri Daxon, Oc Register, 16 Oct. 2025
  • This month, young readers can curl up with nonfiction explorations of the galaxy, thumb through an old astronomy textbook with a fresh new story to tell, or experience the peace of being (almost) alone on the moon.
    — Caroline Carlson, Literary Hub, 3 Nov. 2025
  • The brand’s recently launched Vintage collection is for those of us who pine for retro designs but don’t want to spend the hours thumbing through Facebook Marketplace for a secondhand option.
    — Yelena Moroz Alpert, Architectural Digest, 12 Mar. 2026
  • The show begins with DJ Jen Ard thumbing through a box of old LPs and taking out the original cast album of the musical with its classic cat-eyes logo.
    — Frank Rizzo, Variety, 8 Apr. 2026
  • American Express’s chief information officer Radhakrishnan Ravi thumbs through the New York Times app every morning for his daily dose of news.
    — Emma Burleigh, Fortune, 2 Jan. 2026
  • While thumbing through early 20th century author Harriet Ross Cloquitt’s 1933 edition of The Savannah Cookbook, King stumbles upon a recipe for jambalaya.
    — Elizabeth Wellington, Bon Appetit Magazine, 8 Aug. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'thumb through.' 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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