Synonyms of grubbing

grubbing

verb

present participle of grub

as in laboring

to devote serious and sustained effort

grubbing away at the yard work before the first snow of the season

Synonyms & Similar Words

• laboring
• striving
• struggling
• working
• plowing
• toiling
• endeavoring
• trying
• hustling
• slaving
• tugging
• sweating
• humping
• plugging
• slogging
• drudging
• digging (away)
• plodding
• moiling
• pegging (away)
• straining
• fagging
• banging away
• travailing
• sweating blood
• beavering (away)
• attacking
• applying (oneself)
• scratching
• buckling (down)
• scrabbling
• hammering (away)
• wading
• exerting
• driving
• exercising
• pitching in
• digging in
• essaying
• trudging
• overworking
• grinding (out)
• eking out
• knuckling down
• overexerting
• putting out

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• breaking
• slackening
• loafing
• lounging
• easing (up)
• shirking
• idling
• resting
• hanging (around or out)
• chilling
• lazing
• dallying
• bumming
• letting up
• lolling
• basking
• hacking (around)
• relaxing
• hanging
• playing
• slacking (off)
• unwinding
• goofing (off)
• reposing
• goldbricking
• trifling
• footling
• dabbling
• dillydallying
• doodling
• fooling around
• vegging out
• messing around
• puttering (around)
• goofing (around)
• pottering (around)
• monkeying (around)
• hanging about
• fribbling

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of grubbing

Double-bass glissandos hint at hands grubbing in the earth, while abrupt moments of concerted action—notably, an accordion wheezing out an F-sharp-minor chord—suggest flickering signals and transmissions. — Alex Ross, New Yorker, 18 May 2026

Released in 1958, Attack told of a wealthy heiress, fresh from a stint at a mental institution, who is turned into a giantess and then deals with her philandering husband and his no-good, money-grubbing floozy. — Borys Kit, HollywoodReporter, 9 Jan. 2026