NAILING Synonyms: 248 Similar and Opposite Words

nailing

verb

present participle of nail

as in hitting

to deliver a blow to (someone or something) usually in a strong vigorous manner the boxer nailed his opponent with a devastating left hook

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

as in deciding

to make final, definite, or beyond dispute this latest infidelity nails it—I'm filing for divorce

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in exposing

to reveal the true nature of an investigative report that nailed the teenage novelist as someone who had plagiarized the works of others

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as in arresting

to take or keep under one's control by authority of law the very first time I tried to steal anything, I got nailed

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in grabbing

to take physical control or possession of (something) suddenly or forcibly the running back saw the pass coming in and nailed it

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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 nailing After nailing a 44-yard field goal in the first quarter, Grupe injured his right knee while tackling Cardinals kick returner Devin Duvernay at midfield on a 40-yard kickoff return. — ABC News, 20 Oct. 2026 What was your process like for nailing the Newfoundland accent? — William Earl, Variety, 16 Oct. 2026 Coach was in a no-win situation and took the tie rather than the loss by staying focused and nailing the interview. — Sean Joseph Outkick, FOXNews.com, 15 Oct. 2026 What did weigh on Nordrum’s mind, however, was nailing an English accent. — Lily Ford, HollywoodReporter, 15 Oct. 2026 Inside, Kaylee is eager to prove herself by really learning laundry and nailing it; Fraser advises her to come up with a system and stick to it. — Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 13 Oct. 2026 Below, read on for six stars nailing fall fashion—and shop the pieces to recreate their outfits. — Christian Allaire, Vogue, 13 Oct. 2026 Crews used laser levels and temporary adhesive to fix items to the walls, checking their work for accuracy against renderings of the actual office before nailing many adornments to the walls. — Arkansas Online, 5 Oct. 2026 Soon, though, Sutskever also catches the eye of Altman and his partner Elon Musk (an amusing Ike Barinholtz, nailing him). — Pete Hammond, Deadline, 5 Oct. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for nailing

Verb

Antetokounmpo was everywhere, throwing a down a poster dunk over Mavericks center Daniel Gafford, hitting pull-up threes and assisting on a bunch of the Heat’s three-pointers.

— Anthony Chiang, Miami Herald, 27 Oct. 2026
Each draw is tied to Anthropic hitting certain compute capacity milestones.

— Ashley Capoot,Jordan Novet,Annie Palmer,Lora Kolodny,Kai Nicol-Schwarz,Caleigh Keating, CNBC, 26 Oct. 2026

Definition of hitting

Verb

Moghadam also said that Tehran would study the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement that includes Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey before deciding whether to support it, describing it as a potential instrument for unity.

— ABC News, ABC News, 24 Oct. 2026
Florida voters are deciding whether to pass a constitutional amendment that would lower property taxes for some — but not all — homeowners by raising the state’s homestead tax exemption.

— Catherine Odom, Miami Herald, 24 Oct. 2026

Definition of deciding

Verb

According to Queen, the last time the water dropped this low, exposing part of Old Highway 6, was in the 1980s.

— Jennifer McRae, CBS News, 21 Oct. 2026
The disruption hit systems used for payments, money transfers, deliveries, property searches, and remote court hearings, exposing how a failure in one cloud region can ripple across much of the digital economy.

— Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 20 Oct. 2026

Definition of exposing

Verb

Osceola Sheriff Chris Blackmon released a statement on Facebook on Wednesday after arresting all nine students.

— Garfield Hylton, The Orlando Sentinel, 22 Oct. 2026
For starters, the Stanford experiment prisoners had no idea the study would kick off with local police realistically arresting them at their homes.

— Jacopo Prisco, CNN Money, 21 Oct. 2026

Definition of arresting

Verb

Over recent years, ambitious and headline-grabbing solutions to transportation problems have been unveiled in South Florida, from vertical jet ports to autonomous vehicles.

— Sofia Zarran, Miami Herald, 22 Oct. 2026
Bailey kicked off the Lakers’ opening night by matching her powerful voice with an equally attention-grabbing shoe.

— Karla Rodriguez, Footwear News, 22 Oct. 2026

Definition of grabbing

Verb

Video shared by NorCal Resist showed Moreida standing in the street recording an approaching SUV when its front-right corner struck him, knocking him to the pavement.

— Daniel Hunt, Sacbee.com, 21 Oct. 2026
Coral Springs Police said 44-year-old Matthew John Ryan rammed a shopping cart with a dog inside into the menorah at Chabad of Coral Springs on North University Drive, knocking it completely over.

— Bri Buckley, CBS News, 19 Oct. 2026

Definition of knocking

Verb

The findings suggest that while broader insurance inflation is moderating, affordability remains uneven, with regional market conditions and individual circumstances determining how much relief households actually experience.

— Sheryl Estrada, Fortune, 20 Oct. 2026
Those designations can play an important role in determining where certain assets go, so they should generally be reviewed periodically and after major life changes.

— Angelica Leicht, CBS News, 20 Oct. 2026

Definition of determining

Verb

The preacher was arrested in 2023 after police received a tip-off, and weeks later authorities began uncovering bodies in shallow graves in the Shakahola Forest near the coast in southeastern Kenya.

— Jefferson Kahinju Reuters, Arkansas Online, 20 Oct. 2026
That is followed by one focused on exploring conventional notions of beauty by uncovering the unexpected draw of unpleasant scents with Naïla Hamayed, Givaudan’s fragrance evaluator.

— Jennifer Weil, Footwear News, 20 Oct. 2026