bellying

verb

present participle of belly
1
as in protruding
to extend outward beyond a usual point the sails slowly bellied as the wind picked up

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in creeping
to move slowly with the body close to the ground recruits were forced to belly over the obstacle course under simulated enemy fire

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for bellying
  1. protruding
  2. creeping
  3. poking
  4. sliding
  5. bulging
  6. snaking
  7. crawling
Verb
  • The 10-month-old boy had a deep puncture wound in his upper chest area, while the 3-year-old girl had an inner organ protruding out of a chest-area wound.
    — Matthew Ablon, CBS News, 6 Oct. 2026
  • When a switch is at rest, a protruding piece of the plastic stem keeps the switch’s two leaves from making contact.
    — ArsTechnica, ArsTechnica, 5 Oct. 2026
Definition of protruding
Verb
  • Carr takes a beat to scan the field, no doubt noticing three corners in press and an extra safety creeping toward the line.
    — Nick Baumgardner, New York Times, 1 Oct. 2026
  • But there was something else that was creeping into his head.
    — Andy Martinez, Chicago Tribune, 25 Sep. 2026
Definition of creeping
Verb
  • Sometimes only the tips of the reeds and the seed heads were visible, poking above the murky water, and other times the reeds stood fully exposed, with a clear view of crabs clambering around their bases.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 28 Sep. 2026
  • Video posted to social media showed one car nearly submerged, with just its sunroof poking above the water, as people moved other vehicles farther from the rising tides.
    — Leah Willingham, Los Angeles Times, 26 Sep. 2026
Definition of poking
Verb
  • The rooms Every single one of the 75 rooms is ocean-facing, with floor to ceiling sliding glass doors framing the view, and leading to private terraces perched above the mangroves.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 7 Oct. 2026
  • These twin trends—an aging Leninist system sliding toward one-man rule and mounting political inertia in the face of anything that might trigger social unrest—have eroded China’s governance capacity.
    — Carl Minzner, Foreign Affairs, 5 Oct. 2026
Definition of sliding
Verb
  • Check for dented seams and bulging lids, which can point to food safety issues, recommends Morawetz.
    — Embry Roberts, Martha Stewart, 19 Sep. 2026
  • Her bulging eyes, her piercing shrieks, her casual yet immaculately articulate cruelty all come together to form a cartoonish villain who’s also a commanding delight.
    — Ben Travers, IndieWire, 18 Sep. 2026
Definition of bulging
Verb
  • Fighting along the roughly 780-mile front line snaking through northern, eastern and southern Ukraine has been virtually deadlocked in recent months.
    — Susie Blann, Chicago Tribune, 4 Oct. 2026
  • Fighting along the roughly 1,250-kilometer (780-mile) front line snaking through northern, eastern and southern Ukraine has been virtually deadlocked in recent months.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 3 Oct. 2026
Definition of snaking
Verb
  • Researchers have developed a paper-thin foot membrane that lets crawling microrobots harvest electricity directly from the ground beneath them, ditching heavy onboard batteries by turning metal and silicon surfaces into an active power source.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 8 Oct. 2026
  • Traffic cameras showed that northbound traffic was bumper-to-bumper and crawling along I-35 before being detoured from the highway.
    — Kansas City Star, Kansas City Star, 7 Oct. 2026
Definition of crawling
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

bellyfuls
bellying
bellying up
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Bellying.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bellying. Accessed 9 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

The Exceptions of '-s' and '-es' Plurals

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic'

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

7 Words for Bad Endings and Rough Situations

The Words of the Week - Oct. 9

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)
See More

Popular

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic'

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
a cup of tea and a golf ball on tee side by side
Quiz: Sounds Like... Choose the word that sounds like it fits the clue...
See All