dusts

verb

present tense third-person singular of dust
as in bombs
to defeat by a large margin the inexperienced sprinter somehow dusted the field of veterans

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

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 dusts Winter is also a wonderful surprise, when soft snow blankets valley trails and dusts the mountaintops. — Lisa Kadane, Travel + Leisure, 23 May 2026 Snow sometimes dusts the surrounding slopes, melting by afternoon into damp earth as manzanita and mountain lilac begin to flower. — Josh Jackson, Los Angeles Times, 7 Apr. 2026 To demonstrate, Ejae smiles to form creases below her eyes, then dusts some brown powder onto the area. — Jenny Berg, Vogue, 27 Feb. 2026 Light snow dusts the canyon’s upper rims, crowds thin, the air turns crisp, and one of the most magical Christmas experiences in the country appears. — Emilee Coblentz, Outside, 13 Dec. 2025 Snow paints the eaves over us and dusts the clapboard under the window. — Cynthia Zarin, Harpers Magazine, 19 Sep. 2025 Trails remain accessible, wildlife is still active and early snow dusts the surrounding Chugach Mountains. — Allison Palmer, Sacbee.com, 2 Sep. 2025 Each winter, once the autumn leaves blow away and the first snow dusts the landscape, people travel from all across the Northeast (and the country) to soak up the area’s wintry charms and book a stay at one of their many ski resorts. — Abigail Wise, Condé Nast Traveler, 3 Oct. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dusts
  1. bombs
  2. whips
  3. overcomes
  4. buries
  5. pastes
  6. throws
  7. upsets
  8. smokes
Verb
  • The campus is eerily silent, even as Israel attacks Lebanon and the United States bombs Iran.
    — Jonathan Zimmerman, Chicago Tribune, 9 June 2026
  • The United States bombs Iran's nuclear facilities days later.
    — Erin Mansfield, USA Today, 1 Mar. 2026
Definition of bombs
Verb
  • Castro whips her head around and follows him, punching him in the back.
    — Iris Kwok, Los Angeles Times, 26 Sep. 2026
  • Green whips out his phone with the fluid motion of a digital native and snaps a photo.
    — Hillary Busis, Vanity Fair, 24 Sep. 2026
Definition of whips
Verb
  • Roger overcomes stage-fright to shine in the school performance.
    — Liz Rosenberg, The Conversation, 23 Oct. 2026
  • Airscope overcomes this limitation by delivering a large field of view in a design light enough for animals to wear freely.
    — Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 21 Oct. 2026
Definition of overcomes
Verb
  • His body is never recovered, and the Gardiner family buries an empty casket.
    — Patrick Gomez, Entertainment Weekly, 16 Oct. 2026
  • Everyone stress-tests the checkout, then quietly buries returns, cancellations and subscription pauses.
    — Expert Panel®, Forbes.com, 2 Oct. 2026
Definition of buries
Verb
  • The sequencer pastes together the strings and the quality scores, along with some other metadata, read by read, to form what is called a FASTQ file.
    — Dmitri Pavlichin, IEEE Spectrum, 22 Aug. 2018
Definition of pastes
Verb
  • The Michelin Pilot Sport 4S rubber provides exceptional grip, though throws-up plenty of road noise.
    — Howard Walker, Robb Report, 23 Oct. 2026
  • Welcome to a Thursday Nightcaps — the one where LPGA star Charley Hull throws her bikini in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit ring for the first time.
    — Zach Dean OutKick, FOXNews.com, 22 Oct. 2026
Definition of throws
Verb
  • Speaker Mike Johnson can lose two Republican votes before a third defection upsets the majority.
    — Lauren Peller, ABC News, 16 Sep. 2026
  • The leader who needs to be liked will, when forced to choose, find a reason to delay the hard conversation, soften the hard feedback, wait one more week on the call that upsets someone whose support feels useful today.
    — Mohamed AL Hashemi, Forbes.com, 1 Sep. 2026
Definition of upsets
Verb
  • There’s something in the imperfection of humanity, and the interior life of someone who dances or even someone who just smokes a cigarette, that’s not quite there yet.
    — Hattie Lindert, Pitchfork, 20 Oct. 2026
  • There is a common misconception that someone who smokes only a few cigarettes a day has a small fraction of the cardiovascular risk of someone who smokes a pack a day.
    — Katia Hetter, CNN Money, 16 Sep. 2026
Definition of smokes

Browse Nearby Words

dusting
dusts
dustup
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Dusts.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dusts. Accessed 28 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

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

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of grotesque

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Why do we 'bury the lede?'

'Za' and 9 Other Words to Help You Win at SCRABBLE
See More

Popular

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
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
different halloween monsters in silhouette
A Monstrous Vocab Quiz Words That Go Bump in the Night
See All