1
as in to push
to apply force to (someone or something) so that it moves in front of one
the cat thrust her paw under the couch, trying to reach her toy mouse
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2
as in to rise
to move or extend upward
the butte thrusts up 300 feet from the floor of the valley
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as in heave
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Examples of thrust in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Sam Meredith, CNBC, 8 Oct. 2024
Swarms of Kodak-wielding shutterbugs descended on American cities, thrusting their lenses in front of flustered strangers.
—Ben Tarnoff, The New Yorker, 5 Oct. 2024
Ted Johnson, Deadline, 1 Oct. 2024
That’s a general thrust of Eliasson’s work, which magnificently extends the lineage of Light and Space art that began in Los Angeles in the 1950s and ’60s with such profound predecessors as John McLaughlin, Robert Irwin and Doug Wheeler.
—Christopher Knight, Los Angeles Times, 17 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for thrust 
Verb
Getty Images An escalating conflict in the Middle East has thrust the world’s most important oil artery back into the global spotlight.
—Sam Meredith, CNBC, 8 Oct. 2024
Swarms of Kodak-wielding shutterbugs descended on American cities, thrusting their lenses in front of flustered strangers.
—Ben Tarnoff, The New Yorker, 5 Oct. 2024
Noun
The thrust put the first-term senator’s most reasonable version of himself forward in a PowerPoint presentation by any other name.
—Ted Johnson, Deadline, 1 Oct. 2024
That’s a general thrust of Eliasson’s work, which magnificently extends the lineage of Light and Space art that began in Los Angeles in the 1950s and ’60s with such profound predecessors as John McLaughlin, Robert Irwin and Doug Wheeler.
—Christopher Knight, Los Angeles Times, 17 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for thrust
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'thrust.' 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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Cite this Entry
“Thrust.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/thrust. Accessed 4 Nov. 2024.
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