Verb
Their horses refused to budge.
The door was stuck, and we couldn't even get it to budge.
Could you try opening this jar for me? I can't budge the lid.
We tried to change her mind, but we couldn't budge her.
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
The states change a bit — but the number hardly budges.—Axios, 9 Sep. 2024 The Cincinnati Bengals aren’t known as a team that easily budges on trade demands.—Mike Kaye, Charlotte Observer, 3 Apr. 2024
Verb
But the preamble suggests that Treasury might be unwilling to budge much.—Marie Sapirie, Forbes, 28 Oct. 2024 His hemoglobin A1c was a 6.3 at Canyon Ranch; his doctors at home knew about this and had been trying to get the number to budge to no avail with medication, Metformin.—David Oliver, USA TODAY, 14 Oct. 2024
Adjective
Nike hasn’t seen its emissions budge in the past decade, despite promises to sharply reduce them.—Rob Davis, ProPublica, 6 Sep. 2024 Why budge if, as many analysts argue, Syria is the central front in a larger war between Sunnis and Shiites?—Lionel Beehner, Foreign Affairs, 12 Nov. 2015 See all Example Sentences for budge
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'budge.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Noun
Middle English bugee, from Anglo-French buge
Verb
Anglo-French bouger, from Vulgar Latin *bullicare, from Latin bullire to boil — more at boil
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