nudged

verb

past tense of nudge
1
as in brushed
to pass lightly across or touch gently especially in passing accidentally nudged me as they squeezed past

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in urged
to try to persuade (someone) through earnest appeals to follow a course of action the car salesman nudged me into taking a test-drive, even though I had said that I was just looking

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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 nudged Vance has neither criticized his friend nor publicly nudged Carlson to temper what’s been harsh criticism of Israel — and Trump’s cultivation of the Netanyahu government. — Shelby Talcott, semafor.com, 26 Oct. 2026 Asteroids could also be nudged into more stable orbits, allowing more extensive future missions. — Andrew Jones, Space.com, 26 Oct. 2026 But my grandmother’s letter nudged me to consider what else was happening the year Dad became an American. — Literary Hub, 26 Oct. 2026 Before the glitter from the Knicks’ meat-hook sized rings stopped shimmering, the NBA nudged everyone along to the new season. — Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 21 Oct. 2026 What unfolded instead was a traffic jam on the right side before Walker cut back left, Mahomes nudged a linebacker off his course and Walker hit the crease and dived into the end zone. — Sam McDowell 20, Kansas City Star, 20 Oct. 2026 In an earnings preview note, analysts at Seaport Global nudged up estimates on the view that net interest income (NII) stands to benefit from both deposit growth and higher rates. — Zev Fima,kevin Stankiewicz, CNBC, 11 Oct. 2026 Gio Giovanni Gerosa While knitwear and colorful silk dresses remain at the center of Giovanni Gerosa’s universe, his brand’s latest collection nudged the designer’s penchant for craftsmanship into new territories. — Martino Carrera, Footwear News, 28 Sep. 2026 The space agency conducted the test two weeks earlier to see if in the future a killer rock could be nudged out of Earth’s way. — ABC News, 28 Sep. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for nudged
  1. brushed
  2. urged
  3. kissed
  4. encouraged
Verb
  • Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman brushed off talk of a fading dynasty, saying the team is focused on building a roster that can contend in 2027.
    — Maddie Lee, Los Angeles Times, 21 Oct. 2026
  • Elsewhere on the dial are the Dauphine hands, with one that’s satin-brushed, the other polished.
    — Nicole Hoey, Robb Report, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of brushed
Verb
  • Eisenkot urged him to do so, arguing that military force without a diplomatic strategy could not deliver a lasting victory.
    — Eric Cortellessa, Time, 25 Oct. 2026
  • However, experts urged caution when drawing sweeping conclusions from subgroup survey data.
    — Khloe Quill, FOXNews.com, 25 Oct. 2026
Definition of urged
Verb
  • Osment and Jordan’s characters first kissed in season 5, when the actress was 29 and the actor was 18.
    — Ryan Coleman, Entertainment Weekly, 26 Oct. 2026
  • According to Miltenberg, Doe kissed his client first and did not see her drinking alcohol or doing drugs.
    — Michael Ruiz , Bryan Llenas, FOXNews.com, 9 Oct. 2026
Definition of kissed
Verb
  • Alison Linder, assistant sustainability coordinator at Occidental College, which has a thrift store of its own with Halloween costumes in stock, encouraged people to organize their own swaps with neighbors, friends or school classmates.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 24 Oct. 2026
  • But Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has repeatedly dismissed previous caution of AI tools and encouraged rapid autonomous innovation at the Pentagon.
    — Chiara Eisner, NPR, 23 Oct. 2026
Definition of encouraged

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nudged
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Cite this Entry

“Nudged.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/nudged. Accessed 29 Oct. 2026.

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