pumps

verb

present tense third-person singular of pump
1
as in bobs
to make short up-and-down movements the thighs of the bicyclists were pumping furiously as they neared the finish line

Synonyms & Similar Words

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2
as in interrogates
to put a series of questions to prying neighbors pumped the guileless child for information about the family's new pool

Synonyms & Similar Words
3
as in drains
to remove (liquid) gradually or completely pumped water from the well

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of pumps Petrobras pumps mostly medium-sweet crude from this pre-salt layer. — Todd Gordon, CNBC, 7 Oct. 2026 The actress elevated the dress with a pair of Isabelle pumps from the late British designer’s label. — Julia Teti, Footwear News, 29 Sep. 2026 Usha Vance, meanwhile, chose a cobalt-blue, high-neck silk dress by Saloni with Manolo Blahnik pumps. — Anna Cafolla, Vogue, 25 Sep. 2026 Kardashian added on a cropped jacket, completing her look with shield sunglasses and snakeskin Christian Louboutin pumps. — Hannah Malach, InStyle, 16 Sep. 2026 Heart chamber walls change their shape, altering how the heart pumps blood. — Elizabeth Cooney, STAT, 15 Sep. 2026 The first uses a special rig that pumps sCO₂ through real downhole equipment under realistic conditions. — Christopher McFadden, Interesting Engineering, 29 Aug. 2026 The Pod sits atop your mattress and connects to a hub that pumps heated or cooled water through internal tubing, with each side of the bed running its own heat zone. — Lily Mae Lazarus, Fortune, 24 Aug. 2026 Scoop it up for half-off, then pick up these Jeffrey Campbell pumps and a pretty clutch to complete the look. — Alyssa Grabinski, PEOPLE, 21 Aug. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pumps
  1. bobs
  2. interrogates
  3. drains
  4. shakes
  5. examines
  6. siphons
  7. jerks
  8. questions
Verb
  • Onstage at this diverse block party of young and old in Malcolm X shirts and backward Jamaican flag hats, Elsesser bobs his head as if lost in thought.
    — Jeff Weiss, Los Angeles Times, 7 Sep. 2026
  • Short, shiny, and loaded with texture, Wavy bobs ooze effortless glamour.
    — Calin Van Paris, InStyle, 3 Sep. 2026
Definition of bobs
Verb
  • One day scholars will teach Lepore’s work alongside Arendt’s, seeing that Lepore interrogates not simply a modern moment, but traces our current machine age back to the 17th-century conceit for artifice as improvement.
    — Bethanne Patrick, Los Angeles Times, 31 July 2026
  • Writer-director Ari Aster interrogates not just the social and political turmoil of COVID-19, but also the way social media can exacerbate that unraveling of collective neuroses.
    — Brianna Zigler, Entertainment Weekly, 15 July 2026
Definition of interrogates
Verb
  • Until, suddenly, the life drains from his eyes, sometimes for barely a second, and returning before anyone else in the scene notices.
    — Clayton Davis, Variety, 6 Oct. 2026
  • The all-in-one dock cleans the spinning dual mops with hot water, dries them with warm air to prevent musty smells, and automatically drains and refills the water tank.
    — Juhi Wadia, PC Magazine, 29 Sep. 2026
Definition of drains
Verb
  • The farm has also increased the parking and extended the season to 30 weeks in hopes of giving fans a longer period to enjoy not only the cinnamon rolls but also shakes, jellies and baked goods.
    — Connie Ogle October 1, Miami Herald, 1 Oct. 2026
  • Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter shakes hands with Purdue Northwest students after swearing them in as interns with the High Tech Crime Unit on Wednesday, September 30, 2026.
    — Maya Wilkins, Chicago Tribune, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of shakes
Verb
  • For more on this, check out STAT’s Katie Palmer’s excellent addition to her timely series Paying for AI, which examines how new clinical AI tools influence the affordability of health care and patients’ long-term health.
    — O. Rose Broderick, STAT, 8 Oct. 2026
  • Given how closely the film examines Musk’s ties to the far right, why not explore that incident further?
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 6 Oct. 2026
Definition of examines
Verb
  • Constantly landing on jokes — like in its portrayal of Lockjaw and his efforts to become a member of the Christmas Adventurers Club, a powerful white-supremacists faction — siphons a sense of urgency from the film’s sketches of American unrest and white male violence.
    — Angelica Jade Bastién, Vulture, 24 Nov. 2025
  • The filing comes days after Spotify was accused in another class action lawsuit of permitting massive amounts of streaming fraud on its platform, which siphons royalties from artists whose numbers aren’t artificially inflated.
    — Winston Cho, HollywoodReporter, 5 Nov. 2025
Definition of siphons
Verb
  • In a viral video of the aftermath, the robot jerks back and forth to shake the glass off, showering yet more dangerous shards onto the sidewalk.
    — Frank Landymore, Futurism, 26 Mar. 2026
  • Ross’s video does not show if the SUV made contact with him, as the camera angle jerks up to the sky.
    — Danya Gainor, CNN Money, 12 Jan. 2026
Definition of jerks
Verb
  • There was a period where airspace was closed in the Gulf after the Iran conflict began, and then questions about whether the region’s growth story would be interrupted.
    — Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, semafor.com, 2 Oct. 2026
  • An award decided by sportswriters and broadcasters gives them something convenient to point to when anyone questions that assessment.
    — Dan Zaksheske OutKick, FOXNews.com, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of questions

Browse Nearby Words

pumping up
pumps
pumps up
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Cite this Entry

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

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