Verb
Their horses refused to budge.
The door was stuck, and we couldn't even get it to budge.
Could you try opening this jar for me? I can't budge the lid.
We tried to change her mind, but we couldn't budge her.
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
The Cincinnati Bengals aren’t known as a team that easily budges on trade demands.—Mike Kaye, Charlotte Observer, 3 Apr. 2024 Lovers of winged liners and tear-jerking movies alike will appreciate the budge-free hold of Stila's All Day Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner.—Jennifer Hussein, Allure, 10 Mar. 2022 But the 5-foot-11-inch, 214-pound blue liner rarely budges.—Conor Ryan, BostonGlobe.com, 24 Feb. 2023 The full-coverage lipsticks deliver a high pigment payoff on every skin tone and won’t smudge — especially not on microphones — while eyebrow pencils boast a sweat- and budge-proof formula and a unique chisel tip that makes for effortless filling and shaping.—Danielle Directo-Meston, The Hollywood Reporter, 4 Mar. 2022 Too much makes an object budge, bend or break.—Bridget Alex, Discover Magazine, 21 June 2019 This no-budge mascara is perfect for weddings, hot summer days and everything in between.—Sabina Wizemann, Good Housekeeping, 23 Jan. 2023 This set comes with a smudge- and budge-proof liner and, the pièce de résistance, a dual-sided eyeliner stamp to help perfect your left and right wing.—Anamaria Glavan, Allure, 11 Dec. 2022 This two-pack of Colourpop's gel-paste glitter pots is practically made for makeup experimentation — yes, technically they're made for your eyes, but their no-budge formulas can be used practically anywhere on your face and body.—Jennifer Hussein, Allure, 6 Nov. 2022
Verb
Some of the chefs put ingredients back while Laura wouldn’t budge.—Rachel Bernhard, Journal Sentinel, 17 Apr. 2024 The economy remains resilient, fighting through the high interest rate environment, but with inflation refusing to budge, economists and analysts started to wonder if the soft landing would happen.—Paolo Confino, Fortune, 17 Apr. 2024 While the users might be a happy group, however, there weren’t many of them compared to other tax filing options — and their positive reviews likely won’t budge the opposition that Direct File has faced from tax software companies and Republicans from the outset.—Julie Zauzmer Weil, Washington Post, 15 Apr. 2024 Many leaders from his own party, including Holcomb and the party chair, called for his resignation, but Hill didn't budge.—Kayla Dwyer, The Indianapolis Star, 3 Apr. 2024 UConn planted a flag in the lane from the tip and refused to budge.—Bryce Miller, San Diego Union-Tribune, 29 Mar. 2024 The amount of time Reddit reports that users spend with its service hasn’t significantly budged either.—Paresh Dave, WIRED, 18 Mar. 2024 While the nationwide death toll hasn’t budged, individual districts show change is possible.—Sushmita Pathak, The Christian Science Monitor, 20 Feb. 2024 And in 2021, of those who were fortunate enough to have a bystander call 911 and have emergency medical services come to their assistance, only around 9 percent survived long enough to be discharged from a hospital — a dismal number that has barely budged in decades.—Helen Ouyang, New York Times, 27 Mar. 2024
Adjective
Why budge if, as many analysts argue, Syria is the central front in a larger war between Sunnis and Shiites?—Lionel Beehner, Foreign Affairs, 12 Nov. 2015 Forgoing a drying formula, like a matte lipstick or budge proof stain, and swiping on this luxe lip mask instead for a red carpet event is simply genius.—Jennifer Chan, Peoplemag, 8 Oct. 2023 The research suggests that emotional strategies don’t work to budge belief. Don’t get sucked into factual arguments.—Stephanie Pappas, Scientific American, 5 Apr. 2023 For the ultimate no-budge grip, Allure commerce writer Jennifer Hussein relies on the Hugger Mugger Earth Elements Yoga Mat.—Jennifer Hussein, Allure, 3 Apr. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'budge.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Noun
Middle English bugee, from Anglo-French buge
Verb
Anglo-French bouger, from Vulgar Latin *bullicare, from Latin bullire to boil — more at boil
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