How to Use thumb in a Sentence

thumb

1 of 2 noun
  • My mitten has a hole in the thumb.
  • I accidentally cut my thumb.
  • But in the end, Mr. Schwartz gave all the balloons a thumbs up.
    Winnie Hu Emma Rose Milligan, New York Times, 22 Nov. 2023
  • Hold the device steady, firmly press the plunger with your thumb.
    Claire Bugos, Verywell Health, 31 Mar. 2023
  • The thumb holes help keep the shirt in place and add some hand protection as well.
    Isabel Vasquez Rd Ldn, Health, 16 May 2023
  • In one, India smiled as her dad gave the camera a thumbs up.
    Bailey Richards, Peoplemag, 1 Oct. 2023
  • Choose buds that have begun to open, and gently push back the petals with your thumb.
    Emma Phelps, Southern Living, 21 Aug. 2023
  • Use your index finger and thumb pads to squeeze and remove the piece.
    Amanda Gardner, Health, 18 Aug. 2023
  • My friends winked and gave me the thumbs up every time friendly guy looked away.
    Christine Soderlund, Los Angeles Times, 1 Sep. 2023
  • Lee and his team gave a big thumbs up to Agave & Rye in downtown Indy.
    The Courier-Journal, 22 Feb. 2024
  • To form rims: Place your thumbs inside the circle of a warm sopa and set your fingers on the outside.
    Sally Pasley Vargas, BostonGlobe.com, 2 May 2023
  • Sonny Gray Sonny was by far the hardest on my hand and on my thumb.
    Tyler Kepner, New York Times, 20 Mar. 2023
  • Voting by thumb happens all the time but rarely is noticed.
    Ronald J. Hansen, The Arizona Republic, 5 Mar. 2024
  • Take a ball of green Spanish moss in your hands and hollow out an opening with your thumbs.
    Southern Living Editors, Southern Living, 26 Feb. 2024
  • Take a rubber band and stretch it between your thumb and finger on one hand.
    Rhett Allain, WIRED, 15 Dec. 2023
  • Carefully grasp the fish across the body behind the head with your thumb and fingers to avoid getting pricked.
    Bill Heavey, Field & Stream, 3 May 2023
  • Among his injuries were a broken thumb, hand and wrist that required surgery.
    Courtney Devores, Charlotte Observer, 28 Feb. 2024
  • The general rule of thumb is to stay clear of sulfates, parabens, and silicones.
    Sabrina Talbert, Women's Health, 1 Aug. 2023
  • Grab a dumbbell, wrapping your thumbs around each other touching one side of the bell.
    Jeff Tomko, Men's Health, 22 Apr. 2023
  • As a general rule of thumb: The higher the thread count, the thicker, fluffier, and warmer your towel will be.
    Samantha Crompton, Glamour, 10 Oct. 2023
  • As a general rule of thumb, the more often the device reports, the shorter the lifespan.
    Katherine Keeler, Car and Driver, 14 Mar. 2023
  • Some have trouble feeding, and their thumbs may not be fully formed.
    Erika Edwards, NBC News, 5 Dec. 2023
  • At three of the facilities, he and Yu are pictured giving a thumbs up.
    Pei-Lin Wu, Washington Post, 1 Feb. 2024
  • Lee and his team gave a big thumbs up to Agave & Rye in downtown Indianapolis.
    The Indianapolis Star, 21 Feb. 2024
  • My thumb froze over his picture and my brain snapped back into focus.
    Kira Homsher, Longreads, 14 Mar. 2023
  • The actress has on her snorkeling mask and is playfully giving the thumbs up to the camera.
    Aimée Lutkin, ELLE, 3 Sep. 2023
  • But officials inspected Michael Jordan and gave it the thumbs up to be weighed.
    Alexandra E. Petri, Los Angeles Times, 10 Oct. 2023
  • The general rule of thumb is that people should pay no more than 30% of their income on rent or a mortgage.
    Josh Boak, Fortune, 15 Mar. 2024
  • The shock of more than 7,000 volts of electricity shooting through his body blew off his thumb and burned him from the inside out.
    Eileen Finan, Peoplemag, 9 Nov. 2023
  • With six games left, the Rams’ training staff continues to tape and manage support of Stafford’s thumb.
    Gary Klein, Los Angeles Times, 30 Nov. 2023
Advertisement

thumb

2 of 2 verb
  • I thumbed a ride to school.
  • He thumbed across the country.
  • He thumbed his way to New York.
  • In many pieces Hammons thumbs his nose at the art world.
    Sharon Mizota, latimes.com, 18 June 2019
  • What is the recourse when someone starts to thumb his nose in the face of the law that way?
    David Friend, vanityfair.com, 27 Sep. 2017
  • Turn your left hand over, thumb down, reach across your chest, and grab the back of the doorframe.
    Kyle Norman, Outside Online, 30 Nov. 2021
  • Artists could even thumb their noses at their rivals on their home turf.
    Amanda Dorenberg, Rolling Stone, 25 Feb. 2022
  • The data from the new report were taken from Thumbs Up! Thumbs Down!
    Victoria Knight, CNN, 10 July 2017
  • Reach your right hand out, thumb up, in front of you as far as possible.
    Spenser Mestel, Men's Health, 22 Sep. 2022
  • Odor and Shin-Soo Choo add a small pad on their right thumbs to take away the chances of breaking the finger and to reduce the sting when jammed.
    Jeff Wilson, star-telegram, 4 Mar. 2018
  • In one strip early on, Sam thumbs through a phone book looking for a new artist and writer.
    Cullen Murphy, Vanities, 9 Aug. 2017
  • But Bird isn’t thumbing his nose at critics or their work.
    Allegra Frank, Vox, 27 June 2019
  • Robin Dillon-Merrill reached for her phone at 7 a.m., thumbed the screen and refreshed the death toll once again.
    Jessica Contrera, Washington Post, 24 Apr. 2020
  • Sure, that would have been nice, and nobody would thumb their nose at a million dollars.
    Dalton Ross, EW.com, 17 Mar. 2022
  • If America thumbs its nose at the WTO, why shouldn’t others?
    The Economist, 28 Mar. 2018
  • In Seoul, Robins thumbed through photographs taken in Korea in the 1950s.
    Joseph Hincks / Seoul, Time, 28 June 2018
  • The brain dead multiplied, and are out there thumbing their noses at the law as well as the social contract.
    Chuck Plunkett, The Denver Post, 28 Jan. 2017
  • The Mickelson thumbs up is a trademark, as is the bashful grin, the looping swing and the loping gait of a gunslinger.
    Rob Hodgetts, CNN, 30 Mar. 2018
  • Tina Turner, tickled, rose to her feet and shot her protégé two thumbs up.
    Mankaprr Conteh, Rolling Stone, 25 May 2023
  • Their decision is not to thumb their nose at the governor.
    Gillian Flaccus, Anchorage Daily News, 13 Jan. 2021
  • But when Nelson wanted to evolve from there, those people thumbed their noses at him.
    Joseph N. Distefano, Philly.com, 14 May 2018
  • And that’s why people who thumb their noses at it have to be prosecuted.
    Jane Mayer, The New Yorker, 12 Mar. 2021
  • By the time the future comes around to thumb its nose at you, no one will be paying enough attention to hold you to account.
    Laura Miller, Slate Magazine, 25 May 2017
  • Scanning the ground floor, Poole thumbed through a display of Trademark coats and knitwear that the shop’s curator, Chrissie Miller, sourced from the main store space.
    Brooke Bobb, Vogue, 2 Nov. 2017
  • Long-press a message to give it a quick thumbs up, thumbs down, heart, or other reaction.
    Kegan Mooney, PCMAG, 8 Sep. 2023
  • These people who thumb their noses at our way of life are the ones who give the other lovely newcomers a bad name.
    Leslie Anne Tarabella, al, 11 Sep. 2019
  • Driving in circles around the U.S. Navy and thumbing your nose at its ships is one way to show that Washington doesn’t hold all the cards.
    Seth J. Frantzman, National Review, 20 Apr. 2020
  • All had out-of-town landlords who thumbed their noses at codes meant to keep their properties safe and secure.
    Ronnie Polaneczky, Philly.com, 10 May 2018
  • The city essentially thumbed its nose at the move, and by doing so dissed the charter the city normally abides by.
    Rubén Rosario, Twin Cities, 20 Aug. 2019
  • People in the local office garb of slacks and zip vests brushed past, thumbing their smartphones.
    Nathan Heller, The New Yorker, 16 Oct. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'thumb.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: