Word.ws English Dictionary

push

/pʊʃ/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Northern Ireland/pʉʃ/

push verb: to apply a force to (an object) such that it moves away from the person or thing applying the force.

push: to apply a force to (an object) such that it moves away from the person or thing applying the force
Image: Tunesh247, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Verb

push (third-person singular simple present pushes, present participle pushing, simple past and past participle pushed)

  1. (intransitive, transitive) To apply a force to (an object) such that it moves away from the person or thing applying the force.
    • In his anger he pushed me against the wall and threatened me.
    • You need to push quite hard to get this door open.
    Synonyms:
    press, shove, thring, thrutch
    Antonyms:
    draw, pull, tug
  2. (transitive) To continually attempt to persuade (a person) into a particular course of action.
    • We are pushed for an answer.December 7, 1710, Jonathan Swift, The Examiner, Number 18
    • December 22, 1711, letter to The Spectator
      Ambition […] pushes the soul to such actions as are apt to procure honour and reputation to the actor.
  3. (transitive) To press or urge forward; to drive.
    • to push an objection too far; to push one's luck
    • to push his fortune1667, John Dryden, Annus Mirabilis: The Year of Wonders, 1666. […], London: […] Henry Herringman, […], →OCLC, stanza 133
    Synonyms:
    drive, force
  4. (transitive) To continually promote (a point of view, a product for sale, etc.).
    • Stop pushing the issue — I'm not interested.
    • They're pushing that perfume again.
    Synonyms:
    advertise, promote
  5. (intransitive) To continually exert oneself in order to achieve a goal.
    • Don't think that if you keep pushing harder and harder, it will make you succeed faster or earn more.2016, JoAnneh Nagler, How to be an artist without losing your mind, your shirt, or your creative compass, →ISBN, page 91
  6. (informal, participle, present, regional, transitive) To approach; to come close to.
    • My old car is pushing 250,000 miles.
    • He's pushing sixty.
    Synonyms:
    approach, near
  7. (intransitive) To tense the muscles in the abdomen in order to give birth or defecate.
    • During childbirth, there are times when the obstetrician advises the woman not to push.
    • “Pushing will be easy,” the nurse told me after I’d arrived at the hospital, […]. “For someone like you, you’ll be done in 30 minutes.” Instead, I pushed for four hours, ripping the muscle between my ass and my vagina in the process.2026 June 12, Emily Ratajkowski, “Mother F*cker”, in The Cut
  8. (intransitive) To continue to attempt to persuade a person into a particular course of action.
  9. To make a higher bid at an auction.
  10. To make an all-in bet.
  11. (transitive) To move (a pawn) directly forward.
  12. To add (a data item) to the top of a stack.
    • When the microprocessor decodes the JSR opcode, it stores the operand into the TEMP register and pushes the current contents of the PC ($00 0128) onto the stack.1992, Michael A. Miller, The 68000 Microprocessor Family: Architecture, Programming, and Applications, page 47
    Antonyms:
    pop
Show 4 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. To publish (an update, etc.) by transmitting it to other computers.
    • Because this version of the Windows Installer is aware of the GAC, it has the capability to publish components into it. […] You can manually or programmatically push an assembly into the GAC by using the command-line tool Gacutil.exe.2002, Lars Powers, Mike Snell, Visual Basic Programmer's Guide to the .NET Framework Class Library, page 968
  2. (obsolete) To thrust the points of the horns against; to gore.
    • If the ox shall push a manservant or maidservant, […] the ox shall be stoned.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Exodus 21:32
  3. To burst out of its pot, as a bud or shoot.
  4. To strike the cue ball in such a way that it stays in contact with the cue and object ball at the same time (a foul shot).

Noun (1)

push (countable and uncountable, plural pushes)

  1. A short, directed application of force; an act of pushing.
    • Give the door a hard push if it sticks.
  2. An act of tensing the muscles of the abdomen in order to expel its contents.
    • One more push and the baby will be out.
  3. A great effort (to do something).
    • Some details got lost in the push to get the project done.
    • Let's give one last push on our advertising campaign.
  4. An attempt to persuade someone into a particular course of action.
  5. (figuratively) A force that impels or pressures one to act.
    • I guess it's just
      the special curse
      of working under
      deadline's push1984 April 7, “Mousie Mousie Wildflower (personal advertisement)”, in Gay Community News, page 14
    Synonyms:
    impetus
  6. A marching or drill maneuver/manoeuvre performed by moving a formation (especially a company front) forward or toward the audience, usually to accompany a dramatic climax or crescendo in the music.
  7. A wager that results in no loss or gain for the bettor as a result of a tie or even score
  8. The addition of a data item to the top of a stack.
  9. (Internet, uncountable) The situation where a server sends data to a client without waiting for a request.
    • server push; a push technology
  10. (Australia, UK, obsolete, slang) A particular crowd or throng or people.
    • Till some wild, excited person
      Galloped down the township cursing,
      "Sydney push have mobbed Macpherson,
      Roll up, Dandaloo!"1891, Banjo Paterson, An Evening in Dandaloo
    • My father […] was soon as unambiguously Australian as any other member of the rough Rugby pushes that in the years before the Great War made up the mixed and liverly world of South Brisbane.1994, David Malouf, A First Place, Vintage, published 2015, page 37
  11. A push shot.
  12. (slang) An attempt to give momentum to a wrestler's career in the form of victories and/or more screen time.
  13. A push-button, such as a bell push.
    • A bell circuit, fed from the train lighting battery, is connected to a push in each berth and functions in conjunction with a luminous indicator mounted over the door and in association with a cancellation push, for use by the car attendant.1952 February, “New Third Class Sleeping Cars”, in Railway Magazine, page 87

Noun (2)

push (plural pushes)

  1. (UK, dialectal, obsolete) A pustule; a pimple.
    • a Push rise upon his Nose1625, Francis Bacon, Of Praise

Proper noun capitalized: Push

Push (plural Pushes)

  1. A surname.

push meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

push in Hindi

to apply a force to something so that it moves away
धकेलना dhakelnā, ठेलना ṭhelnā

push in Tamil

to apply a force to something so that it moves away
தள்ளு taḷḷu

push in Marathi

to apply a force to something so that it moves away
ढकलणे ḍhakalṇe

push in Urdu

to apply a force to something so that it moves away
دھکیلنا dhakelnā
More languagesFewer languages
push in Bengali
ধাক্কা দেওয়া dhakka deōẇa, ধাক্কানো dhakkanō, ধাক্কা dhakka, ঠেলা ṭhela
push in Telugu
నెట్టు neṭṭu, తోయు tōyu, శక్తివంతముగా తోయుట śaktivantamugā tōyuṭa, నిరంతర వత్తిడి nirantara vattiḍi
push in Malayalam
തള്ളുക taḷḷuka, ഉന്തുക untuka, ഉന്ത് untŭ, തള്ള് taḷḷŭ
push in Kannada
ದಬ್ಬುವುದು, ತಳ್ಳುವುದು, ನೂಕುವಿಕೆ, ಸೈನ್ಯದ ನಿಯೋಜಿತ ದಾಳಿ
push in Punjabi
ਧੱਕਣਾ dhakkaṇā, ساہ sāh
push in Gujarati
ધકેલવું dhakelvũ, ખોસવું khosvũ
push in Odia
ଠେଲିବା ṭhelibā
push in Sanskrit
तुद् tud, ऊहति ū́hati, नुद् nud, डम्ब् ḍamb
push in Sinhala
තල්ලුකරනවා tallukaranawā
push in Assamese
ঠেলা thela
push in Nepali
धकेल्नु dhakelnu
push in Pashto
خچل xačǝ́l, ټېل وهل ṭel wahᶕl
push in Tagalog
itulak, iniri
push in Arabic
دَفَعَ dafaʕa, زق zaqq, دَفْعَة dafʕa
push in Malay
tolak
push in Indonesian
dorong
push in Persian
هل دادن hol dâdan
push in Thai
ดัน dan, ผลัก plàk, ไส sǎi, รุน run
push in Vietnamese
xô, đẩy, chuyển giao, đẩy lên
push in Myanmar
တွန်း twan:

Examples of push in a sentence

  • There were two men hanging around the school gates today, pushing drugs.
  • Don't be mad at me 'cause you're pushing thirty / And your old tricks no longer work2004, Amy Winehouse, Salaam Remi, “Fuck Me Pumps”, in Frank, performed by Amy Winehouse:
  • “I'm pushing 40 and on TikTok,” he says.2023 October 7, Ajesh Patalay, quoting Jon Kung, “The Naked Chef 2.0”, in FT Weekend (HTSI section), London: The Financial Times Ltd....
  • The push to amend the Civil and Commercial Code on marriage is expected to enter parliament on Wednesday.2022 February 9, E. Parpart, N. Patanasophon, “Activists push for new ammendment that would give marital rights for all”, in Thai Enquirer...

All 40 example sentences with push

Synonyms of push

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of push

Forms of push

Verb
third-person singular presentpushes
present participlepushing
past participlepushed
pastpushed
second-person singular present (archaic)pushest
second-person singular past (archaic)pushedst
third-person singular present (archaic)pusheth
Noun
pluralpushes
Proper noun
pluralPushes

Past tense of push: pushed

Plural of push: pushes

Origin of push

From Middle English pushen, poshen, posson, borrowed from Middle French pousser (Modern French pousser) from Old French poulser, from Latin pulsare (“to beat, strike”), frequentative of pellere (past participle pulsus). Doublet of pulsate and pulse (verb). Partly displaced native Old English sċūfan, whence Modern English shove.

Probably French poche. See pouch.

Words formed from push

Phrases with push

67 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with push

5 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about push

What does push mean?
Push means to apply a force to (an object) such that it moves away from the person or thing applying the force.
What is push in Hindi?
Push in Hindi is धकेलना (dhakelnā), ठेलना (ṭhelnā). See Push meaning in Hindi.
How do you use push in a sentence?
There were two men hanging around the school gates today, pushing drugs.
What part of speech is push?
Push can be a verb, a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce push?
Push is pronounced /pʊʃ/.
What is the past tense of push?
The past tense of push is pushed.

Words near push in the dictionary

  1. Puseyite
  2. Puseyites
  3. Puseys
  4. pusghetti
  5. Pusgillian
  6. push
  7. push about
  8. push against an open door
  9. push along
  10. push and shove
  11. push around

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: push (page history and authors); Push (page history and authors); ഉന്തുക (Malayalam) (page history and authors); push (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ساہ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); ખોસવું (Gujarati) (page history and authors); ଠେଲିବା (Odia) (page history and authors); ऊहति (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); තල්ලුකරනවා (Sinhala) (page history and authors); ঠেলা (Assamese) (page history and authors); धकेल्नु (Nepali) (page history and authors). 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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-push.ogg.

Cite this entry: “push.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/push. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.