thrust

1. 1.

   the force used in pushing

   “the push of the water on the walls of the tank”

   “the thrust of the jet engines”

   Synonymspush

   Broaderforce
2. 2.

   a strong blow with a knife or other sharp pointed instrument

   “one strong stab to the heart killed him”

   Synonymsstabknife thrust

   Broaderblow

   Narrowerlungeremise
3. 3.

   the act of applying force to propel something

   “after reaching the desired velocity the drive is cut off”

   Synonymsdrivedriving force

   Broaderpropulsion

   Narrowerfirewallimpulse
4. 4.

   verbal criticism

   “he enlivened his editorials with barbed thrusts at politicians”

   Broadercriticism
5. 5.

   a sharp hand gesture (resembling a blow)

   “he warned me with a jab with his finger”

   “he made a thrusting motion with his fist”

   Synonymsjabjabbingpokepokingthrusting

   Broadergesture

Other forms of thrust

plural

thrusts·

past tense

thrusted·

present participle

thrusting·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about thrust

What does thrust mean?

thrust means "push forcefully". That is the primary sense; the word has 13 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in thrust?

thrust has 1 syllable: thrust. In IPA it is /ˈθɹʌst/.

What is another word for thrust?

Close synonyms include stuff, shove, squeeze, lunge, hurl. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is thrust a common word?

thrust is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.