Word.ws English Dictionary

pushing the envelope

pushing the envelope is the present participle and gerund of push the envelope.

Meaning of push the envelope

Verb

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

  1. (idiomatic, intransitive) To go beyond established limits; to pioneer.
    • They pushed the envelope on pricing derivatives.

Questions about pushing the envelope

What is pushing the envelope the present participle and gerund of?
Pushing the envelope is the present participle and gerund of push the envelope.

Words near pushing the envelope in the dictionary

  1. pushing schools
  2. pushing someone's buttons
  3. pushing string uphill
  4. pushing the boat out
  5. pushing the edge of the envelope
  6. pushing the envelope
  7. pushing the limit
  8. pushing the right buttons
  9. pushing through
  10. pushing together
  11. pushing under

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: pushing the envelope (page history and authors); push the envelope (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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Cite this entry: “pushing the envelope.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pushing_the_envelope. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.