muscle
Syllables: mus·cle/ˈmʌs.əl/
muscle noun: a contractile form of tissue which animals use to effect movement.
Noun
muscle (countable and uncountable, plural muscles)
- A contractile form of tissue which animals use to effect movement.
- Muscle consists largely of actin and myosin filaments.
- For as the Trunk of the Body, is kept from tilting forvvard by the Muſcules of the Back: So, from falling backvvard, by theſe of the Belly.1701, Nehemiah Grew, “Of the Use of Organized Bodies”, in Cosmologia Sacra: Or A Discourse of the Universe as It is the Creature and Kingdom of God. […], London: […] W[illiam] Rogers, S[amuel] Smith...
- Synonyms:
- thew
- An organ composed of muscle tissue.
- His brow and hair and the palms of his hands were wet, and there was a kind of nervous contraction of his muscles. They seemed to ripple and string tense.1912 January, Zane Grey, chapter VIII, in Riders of the Purple Sage […], New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC
- You, Boxer, the very day that those great muscles of yours lose their power, Jones will sell you to the knacker […]1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August 17), George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, published May 1962, →OCLC
- A well-developed physique, in which the muscles are enlarged from exercise.
- The fact that I was middle-aged, bald, married, and raising girls instead of chasing them didn't really bother me. Muscles are cool at any age.2008, Lou Schuler, "Foreward", in Nate Green, Built for Show, page xii
- Strength, force.
- The widely-backed campaign to recall Evan Mecham as governor of Arizona gained even more muscle when the state House of Representatives voted to impeach the ultraconservative on February 5.1988 February 14, Elizabeth Pincus, “Arizona Impeaches Right-Wing Governor”, in Gay Community News, volume 15, number 30, page 1
- The lesson to be drawn from the events of 1914, to Roosevelt's mind, was that civilization needed muscle to defend it, not just solemn words.2010, Adam Quinn, US Foreign Policy in Context, page 81
- Hired strongmen or bodyguards.
- It was easy enough to dodge him, let him crash into the floorboards. Peltroc knew that his priority was the leader, not the hired muscle.1985, Lance Parkin, The Infinity Doctors, page 34
Verb
muscle (third-person singular simple present muscles, present participle muscling, simple past and past participle muscled)
- To use force to make progress, especially physical force.
- He muscled his way through the crowd.
- Hensel and Wilson hit a series of leg shots simultaneously as Christian muscles between them with Quinn right on his heels.1988, Steve Holman, “Christian Conquers Columbus”, in Ironman, 47 (6): 28-34
- To move forcefully or with great strength.
- She muscled through the ruins.
muscle meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
muscle in Hindi
- contractile tissue
- पेशी peśī, मांसपेशी mānspeśī
- organ composed of muscle tissue
- मांसपेशी mānspeśī
muscle in Tamil
- contractile tissue
- தசை tacai
muscle in Marathi
- contractile tissue
- स्नायू snāyū
muscle in Urdu
- contractile tissue
- عَضْلَہ 'azla
More languagesFewer languages
- muscle in Bengali
- পেশী peśi
- muscle in Telugu
- కండరం kaṇḍaraṁ, కండ kaṇḍa, కండబలం kaṇḍabalaṁ
- muscle in Malayalam
- പേശി pēśi
- muscle in Kannada
- ಸ್ನಾಯು snāyu
- muscle in Punjabi
- ਮਾਸਪੇਸ਼ੀ, ਮਾਸ-ਪੇਸ਼ੀਆਂ
- muscle in Gujarati
- સ્નાયુ snāyu
- muscle in Odia
- ପେଶୀ peśi
- muscle in Sanskrit
- पेशी peśī, स्नायु snāyu
- muscle in Assamese
- পেশী pexi
- muscle in Nepali
- मांसपेशी
- muscle in Pashto
- عضله 'azala
- muscle in Tagalog
- masel, kalamnan
- muscle in Arabic
- عَضَلَة ʕaḍala, قُوَّة quwwa
- muscle in Malay
- otot
- muscle in Indonesian
- otot
- muscle in Thai
- กล้ามเนื้อ glâam-nʉ́ʉa, กล้าม glâam
- muscle in Vietnamese
- cơ, bắp thịt, cơ bắp
- muscle in Myanmar
- ကြွက်သား krwaksa:
Examples of muscle in a sentence
- It was going to take muscle to pluck Miss Agnes out of the canal.2013, John D. MacDonald, The Long Lavender Look, page 15:
- How can the unions - or more specifically the RMT—possibly think this is a good time to exert a bit of industrial muscle and indulge in strikes both on the national railway and the London Underground?2022 January 12, Christian Wolmar, “A new year... but the same old mistakes are being made”, in RAIL, number 948, pages 40–41:
- Nothing the Nebraskans ever again recorded managed to muscle more than minimal attention.1990, Wayne Jancik, The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders, →ISBN, page 236:
- T.C. hadn't had time to batch it up, so some of it was just laying loose in money bags and I passed all that shit out to Rome while Pimp muscled Miss Lady around.2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 112:
Synonyms of muscle
Forms of muscle
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | muscles |
| alternative form | muscule |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | muscles |
| present participle | muscling |
| past participle | muscled |
| past | muscled |
Origin of muscle
From Middle English muscle, muscule, muskylle, and in part from Middle French muscle, from Latin mūsculus (“a muscle”, literally “little mouse”) because of the mouselike appearance of some muscles, from mūs (“mouse”). Doublet of mussel. More at mouse.
Words formed from muscle
- beer muscles
- delayed onset muscle soreness
- delayed-onset muscle soreness
- gym muscles
- hired muscle
- hypermuscle
- intermuscle
- love muscle
- make a muscle
- mind-muscle connection
- muscle ass
- Muscle Beach
- musclebike
- muscleblind
- muscle boat
- musclebound
- muscle-bound
- muscle boy
- musclebrain
- muscle car
- muscle confusion
- Muscle Creek
- muscled
- muscledom
- muscled up
- muscle dysmorphia
- muscle-eye-brain disease
- muscle fiber
- muscle fibre
- muscleful
- muscle girl
- musclegirl
- muscle god
- muscle head
- musclehead
- muscleless
- musclelike
- muscleman
- muscle man
- muscle Mary
- muscle memory
- muscle mommy
- muscle morph
- muscle plum
- muscle-prism
- muscle-queen
- muscle queen
- muscle reading
- muscle relaxant
- muscle segment
- muscle shirt
- musclesome
- muscle spindle
- muscle tone
- muscle woman
- musclewoman
- musclewood
- muscle worship
- muscley
- muscly
Phrases with muscle
- muscle in
- muscle up
- jaw muscle
- muscle men
- muscle boys
- muscle cars
- muscle gods
- heart muscle
- muscle asses
- muscle boats
- muscle girls
- muscle heads
82 more phrasesFewer phrases
- muscle in on
- muscle Marys
- muscle plums
- muscle prism
- muscle women
- Molson muscle
- muscle fibers
- muscle fibres
- muscle morphs
- muscle queens
- muscle shirts
- Muscle Shoals
- on the muscle
- rectus muscle
- smooth muscle
- caninus muscle
- cardiac muscle
- ciliary muscle
- deltoid muscle
- makes a muscle
- muscle mommies
- oblique muscle
- scalene muscle
- shaving muscle
- striped muscle
- abducens muscle
- Albinus' muscle
- masseter muscle
- muscle memories
- muscle segments
- Müller's muscle
- omohyoid muscle
- pectoral muscle
- skeletal muscle
- striated muscle
- tailor's muscle
- temporal muscle
- abdominal muscle
- arytenoid muscle
- auricular muscle
- digastric muscle
- muscle relaxants
- mylohyoid muscle
- papillary muscle
- pterygoid muscle
- voluntary muscle
- deltoideus muscle
- geniohyoid muscle
- stylohyoid muscle
- thyrohyoid muscle
- extraocular muscle
- involuntary muscle
- Santorini's muscle
- sternohyoid muscle
- cricothyroid muscle
- iris dilator muscle
- triangularis muscle
- regular muscle prism
- sternothyroid muscle
- white muscle disease
- cricoarytenoid muscle
- middle scalene muscle
- muscle of mastication
- thyroarytenoid muscle
- abdominoscrotal muscle
- superior tarsal muscle
- anterior scalene muscle
- external oblique muscle
- inferior oblique muscle
- internal oblique muscle
- medial pterygoid muscle
- rectus abdominis muscle
- superior oblique muscle
- lateral pterygoid muscle
- posterior scalene muscle
- temporoparietalis muscle
- anterior auricular muscle
- superior auricular muscle
- posterior auricular muscle
- sternocleidomastoid muscle
- lateral cricoarytenoid muscle
- posterior cricoarytenoid muscle
Words that rhyme with muscle
Questions about muscle
- What does muscle mean?
- Muscle means a contractile form of tissue which animals use to effect movement.
- What is muscle in Hindi?
- Muscle in Hindi is पेशी (peśī), मांसपेशी (mānspeśī). See Muscle meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use muscle in a sentence?
- It was going to take muscle to pluck Miss Agnes out of the canal.
- What part of speech is muscle?
- Muscle can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce muscle?
- Muscle is pronounced /ˈmʌs.əl/.
- What is the plural of muscle?
- The plural of muscle is muscles.
Words near muscle in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: muscle (page history and authors); muscle (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); muscle (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-muscle.wav.
Cite this entry: “muscle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/muscle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.