How to Use thumb in a Sentence

thumb

1 of 2 noun

• My mitten has a hole in the thumb.
• I accidentally cut my thumb.
• But in the end, Mr. Schwartz gave all the balloons a thumbs up.
  — Winnie Hu Emma Rose Milligan, New York Times, 22 Nov. 2023
• Hold the device steady, firmly press the plunger with your thumb.
  — Claire Bugos, Verywell Health, 31 Mar. 2023
• The thumb holes help keep the shirt in place and add some hand protection as well.
  — Isabel Vasquez Rd Ldn, Health, 16 May 2023
• In one, India smiled as her dad gave the camera a thumbs up.
  — Bailey Richards, Peoplemag, 1 Oct. 2023
• Choose buds that have begun to open, and gently push back the petals with your thumb.
  — Emma Phelps, Southern Living, 21 Aug. 2023
• Use your index finger and thumb pads to squeeze and remove the piece.
  — Amanda Gardner, Health, 18 Aug. 2023
• My friends winked and gave me the thumbs up every time friendly guy looked away.
  — Christine Soderlund, Los Angeles Times, 1 Sep. 2023
• Lee and his team gave a big thumbs up to Agave & Rye in downtown Indy.
  — The Courier-Journal, 22 Feb. 2024
• To form rims: Place your thumbs inside the circle of a warm sopa and set your fingers on the outside.
  — Sally Pasley Vargas, BostonGlobe.com, 2 May 2023
• Sonny Gray Sonny was by far the hardest on my hand and on my thumb.
  — Tyler Kepner, New York Times, 20 Mar. 2023
• Voting by thumb happens all the time but rarely is noticed.
  — Ronald J. Hansen, The Arizona Republic, 5 Mar. 2024
• Take a ball of green Spanish moss in your hands and hollow out an opening with your thumbs.
  — Southern Living Editors, Southern Living, 26 Feb. 2024
• Take a rubber band and stretch it between your thumb and finger on one hand.
  — Rhett Allain, WIRED, 15 Dec. 2023
• Carefully grasp the fish across the body behind the head with your thumb and fingers to avoid getting pricked.
  — Bill Heavey, Field & Stream, 3 May 2023
• Among his injuries were a broken thumb, hand and wrist that required surgery.
  — Courtney Devores, Charlotte Observer, 28 Feb. 2024
• The general rule of thumb is to stay clear of sulfates, parabens, and silicones.
  — Sabrina Talbert, Women's Health, 1 Aug. 2023
• Grab a dumbbell, wrapping your thumbs around each other touching one side of the bell.
  — Jeff Tomko, Men's Health, 22 Apr. 2023
• As a general rule of thumb: The higher the thread count, the thicker, fluffier, and warmer your towel will be.
  — Samantha Crompton, Glamour, 10 Oct. 2023
• As a general rule of thumb, the more often the device reports, the shorter the lifespan.
  — Katherine Keeler, Car and Driver, 14 Mar. 2023
• Some have trouble feeding, and their thumbs may not be fully formed.
  — Erika Edwards, NBC News, 5 Dec. 2023
• At three of the facilities, he and Yu are pictured giving a thumbs up.
  — Pei-Lin Wu, Washington Post, 1 Feb. 2024
• Lee and his team gave a big thumbs up to Agave & Rye in downtown Indianapolis.
  — The Indianapolis Star, 21 Feb. 2024
• My thumb froze over his picture and my brain snapped back into focus.
  — Kira Homsher, Longreads, 14 Mar. 2023
• The actress has on her snorkeling mask and is playfully giving the thumbs up to the camera.
  — Aimée Lutkin, ELLE, 3 Sep. 2023
• But officials inspected Michael Jordan and gave it the thumbs up to be weighed.
  — Alexandra E. Petri, Los Angeles Times, 10 Oct. 2023
• The general rule of thumb is that people should pay no more than 30% of their income on rent or a mortgage.
  — Josh Boak, Fortune, 15 Mar. 2024
• The color is most saturated on one of her thumbs, while other fingers are mix of sea green, turquoise, and white.
  — Kara Nesvig, Allure, 21 Mar. 2024
• With their exquisite, high-end tastes, Libras always have their thumb on the pulse of all things aesthetic and seek to surround themselves with beauty in all areas of life.
  — Cori Sears, Better Homes & Gardens, 27 Mar. 2024

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thumb

2 of 2 verb

• I thumbed a ride to school.
• He thumbed across the country.
• He thumbed his way to New York.
• In many pieces Hammons thumbs his nose at the art world.
  — Sharon Mizota, latimes.com, 18 June 2019
• What is the recourse when someone starts to thumb his nose in the face of the law that way?
  — David Friend, vanityfair.com, 27 Sep. 2017
• Turn your left hand over, thumb down, reach across your chest, and grab the back of the doorframe.
  — Kyle Norman, Outside Online, 30 Nov. 2021
• Artists could even thumb their noses at their rivals on their home turf.
  — Amanda Dorenberg, Rolling Stone, 25 Feb. 2022
• The data from the new report were taken from Thumbs Up! Thumbs Down!
  — Victoria Knight, CNN, 10 July 2017
• Reach your right hand out, thumb up, in front of you as far as possible.
  — Spenser Mestel, Men's Health, 22 Sep. 2022
• Odor and Shin-Soo Choo add a small pad on their right thumbs to take away the chances of breaking the finger and to reduce the sting when jammed.
  — Jeff Wilson, star-telegram, 4 Mar. 2018
• In one strip early on, Sam thumbs through a phone book looking for a new artist and writer.
  — Cullen Murphy, Vanities, 9 Aug. 2017
• But Bird isn’t thumbing his nose at critics or their work.
  — Allegra Frank, Vox, 27 June 2019
• Robin Dillon-Merrill reached for her phone at 7 a.m., thumbed the screen and refreshed the death toll once again.
  — Jessica Contrera, Washington Post, 24 Apr. 2020
• Sure, that would have been nice, and nobody would thumb their nose at a million dollars.
  — Dalton Ross, EW.com, 17 Mar. 2022
• If America thumbs its nose at the WTO, why shouldn’t others?
  — The Economist, 28 Mar. 2018
• In Seoul, Robins thumbed through photographs taken in Korea in the 1950s.
  — Joseph Hincks / Seoul, Time, 28 June 2018
• The brain dead multiplied, and are out there thumbing their noses at the law as well as the social contract.
  — Chuck Plunkett, The Denver Post, 28 Jan. 2017
• The Mickelson thumbs up is a trademark, as is the bashful grin, the looping swing and the loping gait of a gunslinger.
  — Rob Hodgetts, CNN, 30 Mar. 2018
• Tina Turner, tickled, rose to her feet and shot her protégé two thumbs up.
  — Mankaprr Conteh, Rolling Stone, 25 May 2023
• Their decision is not to thumb their nose at the governor.
  — Gillian Flaccus, Anchorage Daily News, 13 Jan. 2021
• But when Nelson wanted to evolve from there, those people thumbed their noses at him.
  — Joseph N. Distefano, Philly.com, 14 May 2018
• And that’s why people who thumb their noses at it have to be prosecuted.
  — Jane Mayer, The New Yorker, 12 Mar. 2021
• By the time the future comes around to thumb its nose at you, no one will be paying enough attention to hold you to account.
  — Laura Miller, Slate Magazine, 25 May 2017
• Scanning the ground floor, Poole thumbed through a display of Trademark coats and knitwear that the shop’s curator, Chrissie Miller, sourced from the main store space.
  — Brooke Bobb, Vogue, 2 Nov. 2017
• Long-press a message to give it a quick thumbs up, thumbs down, heart, or other reaction.
  — Kegan Mooney, PCMAG, 8 Sep. 2023
• These people who thumb their noses at our way of life are the ones who give the other lovely newcomers a bad name.
  — Leslie Anne Tarabella, al, 11 Sep. 2019
• Driving in circles around the U.S. Navy and thumbing your nose at its ships is one way to show that Washington doesn’t hold all the cards.
  — Seth J. Frantzman, National Review, 20 Apr. 2020
• All had out-of-town landlords who thumbed their noses at codes meant to keep their properties safe and secure.
  — Ronnie Polaneczky, Philly.com, 10 May 2018
• The city essentially thumbed its nose at the move, and by doing so dissed the charter the city normally abides by.
  — Rubén Rosario, Twin Cities, 20 Aug. 2019
• People in the local office garb of slacks and zip vests brushed past, thumbing their smartphones.
  — Nathan Heller, The New Yorker, 16 Oct. 2023

Last Updated: 5 Sep 2024