EN

Synonyms for push

63 synonyms
5 antonyms
6 meanings

verb
noun

Most common

drive press promote propel shove jostle fight approach

Synonyms by meaning

Verb

1. Drive — to continually attempt to persuade (a person) into a particular course of action

drive, press, promote, propel, urge, try, press forward, accelerate, encourage, impel, go, run, motivate, pass, persuade, goad, stimulate, spur, induce, tease, provoke, incite

2. Shove — to apply a force to (an object) such that it moves away from the person or thing applying the force

shove, jostle, thring, thrutch rare UK

3. Fight

fight, campaign, agitate, crusade

4. Approach — to approach; to come close to

Other

force, advertise, advertize US, crowd, bear down, hustle, shoulder, elbow, bear on, endeavor US, endeavour UK, labor US, labour UK, poop, enterprise

Noun

1. Button

button, push-button

2. Energy

energy, get-up-and-go informal

Other

thrust, nudge, stick, poke, pinch, impetus formal, punch, butt, jog, crisis, hunch, emergency

Antonyms

indulge, pull, draw

All antonyms of push →

Definitions

v. 1
To apply a force to (an object) such that it moves away from the person or thing applying the force.
You need to push quite hard to get this door open.
v. 2
To continually attempt to persuade (a person) into a particular course of action.
n. 1
A short, directed application of force; an act of pushing.
Give the door a hard push if it sticks.
n. 2
An act of tensing the muscles of the abdomen in order to expel its contents.
One more push and the baby will be out.

Related words

Word family: push-up push-penny push-start
Phrases: push around push on push aside push out push-back push down push forward push through

Forms

Plural: pushes → buttons, push-buttons, energies, thrusts…
Past participle: pushed
e.g. pushed → driven, prest, promoted, propelled…

Example sentences

try The wholesalers might try to back out of the deal.
promote We must promote commerce with neighboring countries.
urge Try to resist the urge to pick your nose, darling.
propel Algeria needs to propel its economy forward.
labor There is a labor shortage of computer programmers.

Popularity over time

Word	1850 → 2019	Trend
push		rising
try		rising
promote		rising
urge		falling
propel		rising
labor		falling

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

By length

2 letters: go¹
3 letters: try¹, run¹, jog¹
4 letters: near¹, pass¹, butt¹, urge¹, spur¹, poop¹, poke¹, goad¹
5 letters: press¹, fight¹, force¹, drive¹, labor², stick¹, crowd¹, punch¹, elbow², pinch¹, shove¹, tease¹, nudge¹, hunch¹
6 letters: energy³, labour², button², crisis², thrust¹, hustle², induce², propel², incite², jostle², thring
7 letters: promote², crusade², provoke², impetus³, agitate³, thrutch
8 letters: campaign², approach², shoulder², persuade², motivate³, endeavor³
9 letters: emergency⁴, encourage³, stimulate³, advertise³, endeavour³, advertize
10 letters: enterprise³, accelerate⁴

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (labor² = 2 syllables).

In other languages

Français: pousser
Español: empujar
Deutsch: drücken
Català: empènyer