Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use elbow in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun, verb

Elbow means the joint between the upper arm and the forearm. Example: “He elbowed his way through the crowd.”

Examples of elbow by meaning

nounThe joint between the upper arm and the forearm.

  • Elbows almost touching they leaned at ease, idly reading the almost obliterated lines engraved there. ¶ "I never understood it," she observed, lightly scornful.1907, Robert W. Chambers, chapter VIII, in The Younger Set

nounAny turn or bend like that of the elbow, in a wall, building, coastline, etc.; an angular or jointed part of any...

  • the sides of windows, where the jamb makes an elbow with the window back

nounA detective.

  • "An elbow, huh?" putting all the contempt he could in his voice; and somehow any synonym for detective seems able to hold a lot of contempt.1924, Dashiell Hammett, Zigzags of Treachery

verbTo push with the elbow or elbows; to forge ahead using the elbows to assist.

  • He elbowed his way through the crowd.
  • Through the crush Malone and Roxton elbowed their way until they reached Challenger's side, and partly by judicious propulsion, partly by artful persuasion, they got him, still bellowing his grievances, out of the building.1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html)...

verbTo strike with the elbow.

  • Trumper elbowed me in the ribs and made a sign with his head.1953, George Lamming, In the Castle of My Skin, McGraw Hill Books Company, Inc., published 1954, page 166
  • She looked round for Vera, but could not see her, and in the process of wriggling through the heaving crowd was elbowed in the eye.1975, Marjorie Darke, A Question of Courage, Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Kestrel Books, →ISBN, page 108
  • I put my head on the pillow and am just about to inch warmth-seekingly closer to her when she suddenly elbows me full in the face with stupefying force.2001 November 24, Mil Millington, “Things my girlfriend and I argue about”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News...

verbTo nudge, jostle or push.

  • Suddenly and with all her heart Kate longed to be home, back at the homestead, to participate in the rambunctious toss and jostle as breakup elbowed its way into the Park.1993, Dana Stabenow, A Fatal Thaw, →ISBN, page 105

verbTo force (someone) to quit or lose their job so that someone else can be hired.

  • The president was elbowed out of power by members of her own party.

More sentences with elbow

  • After resting on his elbows, he stood on his toes, then walked on his heels.From the entry on
  • She looked out the window resting her elbows on the window sill.From the entry sill
  • He dug an elbow into my ribs and guffawed at his own joke.From the entry dig
  • The employees really don't have much elbow room in which to explore new ideas.From the entry elbow room
  • As a school nurse, Pat was used to band-aiding lots of scraped knees and elbows.From the entry band-aid
  • She lazily scrubbed the pot, but without some real elbow grease it wasn't going to get clean.From the entry lazily
  • When are you finally going to give your boyfriend the elbow?From the entry give the elbow
  • In the football game he got caught by someone's elbow and came away with a thick ear.From the entry thick ear
  • He caught an elbow going after a loose ball.From the entry loose
  • The violins are seated with sufficient elbow room.From the entry violin
  • When bending the elbow, the biceps is the agonist.From the entry agonist
  • His sleeves had patches on the elbows where different fabric had been sewn on to replace material that had worn away.From the entry patch
  • I was elbowed out of the way by the bouncer.From the entry out of the way
  • Crowds of yes men elbowed one another out of the way, hoping to get a chance to kiss the boss's ring.From the entry yes man
  • He messed up his elbow at the track meet.From the entry mess up
  • There wasn't that much elbow room in the aircraft.From the entry elbow room
  • They said I couldn't do the job so they gave me the elbow. So, now I'm looking for work again.From the entry give the elbow
  • My elbow is all jacked up from playing tennis.From the entry jacked up
  • They sat there leaning on their elbows.From the entry lean on
  • Her elbow has been giving her grief.From the entry give someone grief
  • "Ooph!" Jeff grunted as I elbowed him in the rib.From the entry ooph
  • We can't be a punching bag, and we have to get our elbows up.2025 January 29, Wab Kinew, Premier of Manitoba, speech. From the entry elbows up
  • Shore jumped in and got binked with an accidental elbow .2024, Juan Vidal, A Second Chance on Earth. From the entry bink
  • But elbow injuries are the Baba Yaga for pitchers, an ever-present danger.2023 April 7, Nick Groke, C. Trent Rosecrans, “Analyzing MLB [Major League Baseball]’s most cumbersome contracts — and trying to find a…. From the entry Baba Yaga
  • He showed reporters how it was done by demonstrating the elbow bump with Sen.2020 March 4, Adrianna Rodriguez, “Goodbye, handshake. Hello, elbow bump? Greetings to avoid during the coronavirus outbreak”, in USA…. From the entry elbow bump
  • Elbow position is critical when you’re doing the military press, and it’s often misunderstood.2018 November 28, Brett Williams, “How to Do a Military Press With Perfect Form”, in Men's Health. From the entry military press
  • “Hey, what are you doing up here?” Nemesis asked, leaning his right elbow on the rail.2017 September 27, Jordan Raggio, Finance & Felony, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN. From the entry coal
  • Even when I gave her a jog with my elbow, she kept staring at her French book.2016, Kes Gray, Daisy and the Trouble With Jack. From the entry jog
  • Open arthrolysis remains the gold standard for treatment of post-traumatic elbow stiffness.2015 September 19, “Complications of Open Elbow Arthrolysis in Post-Traumatic Elbow Stiffness: A Systematic Review”, in PLOS ONE, →DOI. From the entry arthrolysis
  • Gallyon took his glass and held it slack-handed, elbow resting on the arm of his chair.2013, Jeff Gulvin, The Aden Vanner Novels, →ISBN. From the entry slack-handed

Meaning of elbow

  1. noun The joint between the upper arm and the forearm.
  2. noun Any turn or bend like that of the elbow, in a wall, building, coastline, etc.; an angular or jointed part of any structure, such as the raised arm of a chair or sofa, or a short pipe fitting, turning at an angle or bent.
  3. noun A detective.

Full definition of elbow

Questions about elbow in a sentence

How do you use elbow in a sentence?
Elbow is used as a noun and verb. For example: “He elbowed his way through the crowd.”
What is a short sentence with elbow?
“He elbowed his way through the crowd.”
What does elbow mean?
Elbow means the joint between the upper arm and the forearm.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: elbow (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use elbow in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/elbow. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.