How to Use nub in a Sentence

nub

noun
  • The dog chewed his bone down to a nub.
  • The shoes have little nubs on the bottom that prevent you from slipping.
  • And the nub of the questions always cuts to the heart of what the issue was.
    CBS News, 14 Dec. 2022
  • So the gap between those two views is the nub of the matter.
    Gerald F. Seib, WSJ, 23 Apr. 2018
  • And that’s the nub of it; rhetoric alone cannot support the lira.
    Washington Post, 2 May 2019
  • Antlers on males will grow from nubs to full racks in three months.
    Juliana Hanle, Scientific American, 18 Nov. 2019
  • Huge trees lay on the ground, their stumps reduced to nubs.
    Adrian Sainz and Andrew Demillo, BostonGlobe.com, 1 Apr. 2023
  • Old swordfish have even been caught with bills worn down to nubs.
    Joe Cermele, Field & Stream, 9 Nov. 2023
  • The pumpkin would not come off because its strap was lodged around the back of the deer's head, stuck on the nubs of his antlers.
    Jennie Key, Cincinnati.com, 30 Oct. 2017
  • Cut the hard nub end off the garlic clove, and smash it with the flat side of your knife; the skin should come right off (discard it).
    Bethany Jean Clement, The Seattle Times, 18 July 2018
  • Next, pull the nub off the top of the avocado to reveal the color of the flesh inside.
    Daniel Holzman and Matt Rodbard, WSJ, 8 Feb. 2022
  • Wilson, who threw right and batted left, did it all with a nub for a right thumb.
    Joseph Goodman | Jgoodman@al.com, al, 18 Feb. 2021
  • Or the eyeliner that's been sharpened down to no more than a nub.
    Sophia Panych, Allure, 28 Feb. 2022
  • The end of one of the armrests in the back has been chewed into a foamy nub by some dog or another.
    Ryan D'agostino, Town & Country, 19 Oct. 2020
  • The nub of his lecture was a screed against the institutions that comprise the British state.
    The Economist, 20 Nov. 2020
  • In the Lims’ living room, a hula hoop with rubber nubs on the inside leaned against a wall.
    Emma Allen, The New Yorker, 20 Mar. 2017
  • Nadal often kicks clean the nub of tape in the middle of the baseline before heading to his chair for a changeover.
    New York Times, 29 May 2022
  • That’s because the nub of your wrist bone prevents the sensor from laying flat.
    Geoff Nudelman, WSJ, 22 Apr. 2021
  • In addition to the ThinkPad-like look and feel, there’s a red key on the side of the phone in a nod to Lenovo’s classic keyboard nub.
    Allison Johnson, The Verge, 26 Apr. 2023
  • Asparagus nubs were cut so small, the vegetable's flavor got lost in the heat.
    Debbi Snook, cleveland.com, 23 June 2017
  • That’s the nub of this entire case that’s turned into a media circus.
    Maria Cramer, BostonGlobe.com, 15 Mar. 2018
  • The nub of the argument is that there are trade-offs involved in decisions about how, when and where to work.
    London Business School, Forbes, 2 Sep. 2021
  • By the time Moore came along, the party’s moral sensibilities had been worn to a nub.
    Jonathan Chait, Daily Intelligencer, 8 Dec. 2017
  • Can’t tell if that little protruding nub is a stinger or not.
    oregonlive.com, 12 July 2019
  • The rosy nubs that were the nipples of the tetas of the nanny Fidelia began pointing in one direction.
    Lawrence Jackson, Harper's Magazine, 10 July 2023
  • The bacon scent will keep your dog engaged and happy, while the ridges and nubs on the surface of the bone help clean their teeth and massage their gums.
    Amber Smith, Discover Magazine, 28 June 2023
  • Eventually, Barnett made her way down to the tiny nub at the center of each lens.
    Carl Zimmer, The Atlantic, 20 Mar. 2020
  • The small pretzel nubs are about the size of a Munchkin, but don’t deliver nearly the same degree of pleasure.
    Janelle Nanos, BostonGlobe.com, 10 Apr. 2018
  • After about a 30-minute boat ride, scientists jumped into the water to pass down the shelves bristling with nubs of healthy corals.
    Alie Skowronski, Sun Sentinel, 11 Jan. 2024
  • All this can happen, and yet there’s a little nub that remains unchanged.
    Jaron Lanier, The New Yorker, 2 Feb. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'nub.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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