Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use nudge in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun, verb

Nudge means a gentle push. Example: “Since the machine was showing two lemons and a cherry, I decided to try a nudge.”

Examples of nudge by meaning

nounA gentle push.

  • give someone a nudge

nounThe rotation by one step of a fruit machine reel of the player's choice.

  • Since the machine was showing two lemons and a cherry, I decided to try a nudge.

nounThe use of positive reinforcement and indirect suggestions as ways to influence.

  • All this experimentation is yielding insights into which nudges give the biggest shove.2012 March 24, “Nudge nudge, think think”, in The Economist
  • Manipulating behavior is old hat in the private sector, where advertisers and companies have been nudging consumers for decades.2013 December 7, Kathrin Bennhold, “Britain’s Ministry of Nudges”, in New York Times

verbTo near or come close to something.

  • This year's profits are nudging the 10 million mark.

verbTo move slightly.

  • But a serious public health and economic crisis, and the responses to it from commonwealth and state governments, seems to have nudged some “protest” voters back into the major party fold.2021 February 2, Katharine Murphy, The Guardian

More sentences with nudge

  • It has been remarked that nudging is also a euphemism for psychological manipulation as practiced in social engineering.From the entry nudging
  • As planned, the tang of my accompanying giardiniera nudged guests toward the tannic relief of drink.2023, C Pam Zhang, Land of Milk and Honey, Hutchinson Heinemann, page 75. From the entry giardiniera
  • Though his heart seized at the sight of it, Luc nudged it with a foot.2020, Kayelle Allen, A Stolen Heart: MM Sci-Fi Romance, Romance Lives Forever Books, page 244. From the entry holopresence
  • Even when I gave her a nudge with my knee, she kept ignoring me.2016, Kes Gray, Daisy and the Trouble With Jack. From the entry jog
  • We were walking out of the clinic when Zoe nudged me with her shoulder.2015, Marie Hall, This Time, page 190. From the entry bow chica wow wow
  • It's your role as host to nudge the teetolers toward unsobriety and the drunks toward civility.2014, Dan Pashman, Eat More Better: How to Make Every Bite More Delicious, page 290. From the entry unsobriety
  • Simon noticed a groundling look intently at Walsingham's purse and nudge his mate.2008, John Lambshead, Lucy's Blade, →ISBN, page 184. From the entry groundling
  • Nudging the nearly-closed bedroom door secret-agent style, I saw on the bed the double-plus-good definition of inviting.2005, Rand Clifford, Timing, →ISBN, page 384. From the entry double-plus-good
  • Skipper put a French fried potato into his mouth and nudged Gil.2003, Sylvia Snyder, The Sawdust Festival, iUniverse, Inc., →ISBN. From the entry french fried potato
  • When one of us sees a good-looking guy, we nudge the other one and smile.2001, Julia DeVillers, Teen Girlfriends. From the entry good-looking
  • I nudged the door open further with my foot and called out: "Candygram.2001, Mark Coggins, The Immortal Game, Poltroon Press, p. 185 http://books.google.com/books?id=5TFEPv__JroC&q=candygram&dq=candygram&pgis=1. From the entry candygram
  • And then there were several instances when The Intimidator nudged rookies Ron Hornaday and Kurt Busch.2001, Triumph, Dale Earnhardt: Remembering the Intimidator, Triumph Books, →ISBN, page 37. From the entry trade paint
  • The third man, of average height, with a dark complexion, nudged his companions.1993 June, David Brin, Glory Season, New York, NY: Bantam Books, →ISBN, page 58. From the entry virgie
  • Half-sheepishly, the mechanic had eased round to nudge his mate to look also at the comical-looking bloke.1923, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “Torestin”, in Kangaroo, London: Martin Secker […], →OCLC, page 1. From the entry bloke
  • Nudge the photo over (using keyboard arrow keys if you like) so that the sashimi are well situated in the frame.2020, Joyce Walsh, “Design + Software Skills 5.1: InDesign Place Image and Path Layout”, in Graphic Design Essentials: With Adobe…. From the entry sashimi
  • Bill, who had nudged the other customer out of the shop and locked the door, meemawed at him to wait.2013, Nick Oldham, Critical Threat, →ISBN. From the entry meemaw
  • Bill, who had nudged the other customer out of the shop and locked the door, mee-mawed at him to wait.2013, Nick Oldham, Critical Threat, →ISBN. From the entry mee-maw
  • I nudge him in and close the door behind me.2012, Mindi Scott, Live Through This, →ISBN, page 249. From the entry bow chicka bow wow
  • The debate started at 11.30am, nudging out of port with a characteristically narcoleptic speech from Lord Campbell of Alloway (Con).2005 July 15, Quentin Letts, “I am white, middle-class, love my wife, own my home and adore traditional TV sitcoms. So why does the BBC…. From the entry narcoleptic
  • She gave the old woman a nudge, and the sound that had been a regular gnaaaargrgrgrgrg suddenly became blort.2004, Terry Pratchett, A Hat Full of Sky, HarperCollins Publishers, →ISBN, page 218. From the entry blort
  • In Prada he had nudged me discreetly to point out a C-list celebrity contemplating an overpriced pair of slip-ons.2002, Andrea Semple, The Ex-Factor, →ISBN, page 4. From the entry C-list
  • "You could have at least said it was a nice dream," this dreary skellington nudged at her with its dry bones.1980 August 16, Andrea Loewenstein, “Random Lust”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 5, page 19. From the entry skellington
  • Just a forceful nudge of the knee.1963, J P Donleavy, A Singular Man, published 1963 (USA), page 36. From the entry goose
  • Google is starting to nudge users to try out passkeys, a replacement for traditional passwords that can stop phishing attacks and make sign-ins easier.2023 May 3, Michael Kan, “Go passwordless: Google accounts now support passkey sign-ins”, in PCMag, retrieved 03 May 2023. From the entry passkey
  • It could be that 'Coronasomnia' provided the necessary nudge for people to be more intentional about sleep, so that their longer-term practice is now better.2021, Steven P. MacGregor, The Daily Reset: 366 Nudges to Move Your Life Forward, Sheepdog Press, →ISBN, page 148. From the entry coronasomnia
  • Duncan awoke to Li Quan's nudging.2018 February 8, Terry Liittschwager, chapter 32, in Wrongful Act, archived from the original on 23 Nov 2024. From the entry SELCAL
  • No more Geordie and his nudge nudge, wink wink greetings; from next month she would be a professional actress, working in repertory.2014, Lynda Bellingham, chapter 2, in The Boy I Love, London: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN. From the entry nudge nudge wink wink
  • We caught fruitsicle drips with our tongues and nudged away mosquitoes as we watched the show: a coliseum of fireflies blinking green, blue, and orange.2012, Bonnie Rough, Carrier. From the entry fruitsicle
  • It's in television that Abrams, arguably more than Spielberg, has nudged the medium forward, with "Felicity," then "Alias" and finally the mindscrew of "Lost."2009 May 12, Jay A. Fernandez, “Abrams making a name for himself, but it's not Steven Spielberg just yet”, in The Hollywood Reporter. From the entry mindscrew
  • She nudged me and whispered: ‘Wrong!2007, Catherine Dunne, “Maggie”, in At a Time Like This, London: Macmillan, →ISBN, page 79. From the entry pavlova
  • On Saturday the band members laid down a series of playful indie-rock grooves: plinky keyboards and spidery guitar lines, rattling drums and nudging bass.2007 June 18, Kelefa Sanneh, “Preppie Afro-Pop and Other Odd Blends”, in New York Times. From the entry plinky
  • I have lost count of the number of men who have asked, nudge, nudge, wink, wink, whether we ever go out with the same bloke.2007, Randi Sabroe Inger Merete Sarborg, Randi Sabroe, Inger Merete Sarborg, To Clone Or Not to Clone - Page 35. From the entry twindom
  • One nudged the other’s arm, nodding towards our table while another stared directly on me with a blinkless gaze that did not falter.2004, Andrea Levy, chapter 16, in Small Island, London: Review, page 176. From the entry blinkless
  • Two of them were nudging for udders and, when they found them, slugged their little heads against them in blind fury for dogmilk.1975, Samuel [John] Hazo, “Earthscript: Notes in the Name of Dust”, in Inscripts, Athens, Oh.: Ohio University Press, →ISBN, page 114. From the entry dogmilk

Meaning of nudge

  1. noun A gentle push.
  2. noun A feature of instant messaging software used to get the attention of another user, as by shaking the conversation window or playing a sound.
  3. noun The rotation by one step of a fruit machine reel of the player's choice.

Full definition of nudge

Questions about nudge in a sentence

How do you use nudge in a sentence?
Nudge is used as a noun and verb. For example: “Since the machine was showing two lemons and a cherry, I decided to try a nudge.”
What is a short sentence with nudge?
“give someone a nudge”
What does nudge mean?
Nudge means a gentle push.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: nudge (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 nudge in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/nudge. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.