LIMPING Synonyms: 87 Similar and Opposite Words

limping 1 of 2

noun

as in exhaustion

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limping

2 of 2

verb

present participle of limp

as in shuffling

to walk while favoring one leg she limped all day after stubbing her toe on the lawn sprinkler

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in stumbling

to proceed or act clumsily or ineffectually the damaged boat limped back into port

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in dragging

to move slowly we'll have to stop limping if we are ever going to make our destination in time

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of limping

Noun

While many symptoms overlap between species, Koehler says dogs commonly develop lethargy, fever, limping, stiff or swollen joints, pale gums, bruising, or abnormal bleeding. — Olivia McIntosh, Martha Stewart, 15 July 2026 In recent days, young Knicks fans have been made to digest from their dreary Boomer elders heavy doses of old-timey hoops lore, but mainly about the 1970 title series, featuring Willis Reed’s limping, yet noble appearance in Game Seven, his injured leg shot up with painkillers. — David Remnick, New Yorker, 14 June 2026 Carter did not look good limping off the practice field. — Pat Leonard, New York Daily News, 8 June 2026 With the Bulls’ season limping toward a finish and the transfer portal opening tomorrow, Chapel Hill clearly didn’t want to wait. — Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 6 Apr. 2026 The chopper flew across New York harbor and landed at a Manhattan heliport, where Maduro, limping, was loaded into an armored vehicle. — Michael R. Sisak, Chicago Tribune, 5 Jan. 2026 South Carolina wide receiver Nyck Harbor scored on an 80-yard reception in the second quarter and ran into the tunnel limping following the play. — CBS News, 16 Nov. 2025 Springer fell to the ground in pain and was eventually helped off the field limping. — Paulina Dedaj, FOXNews.com, 18 Oct. 2025 Once off the field, Burrow was observed limping in the tunnel of the stadium with no shoe on his left foot. — Rohan Nadkarni, NBC news, 14 Sep. 2025

Verb

In the first inning, Garcia came up limping after attempting to round third base on Salvador Perez’s line drive toward the shortstop. — Kansas City Star, 20 Aug. 2026 Miles, still limping, was well enough to appear in the audience for Minnesota’s postgame press conference. — Marcus Thompson Ii, New York Times, 20 Aug. 2026 Outside linebacker Kyle Kennard exited practice with a trainer after limping off the field. — Joaquin Ruiz, Los Angeles Times, 18 Aug. 2026 Alonso was checked by trainers after his single in the 10th and appeared to be limping but stayed in the game. — ABC News, 15 Aug. 2026 Some even keep limping along for years after the charging port quits, relying on a wireless charging puck instead. — Bydoug Ashburn, Encyclopedia Britannica, 5 Aug. 2026 The Yankees are limping towards the trade deadline with Aaron Judge (ribs), Giancarlo Stanton (calf), and Clay Bellinger (hamstring) all out. — Mike Barner, Forbes.com, 31 July 2026 But Machado did not move well on the bases later in the game and was limping after the game in the clubhouse. — Jeff Sanders, San Diego Union-Tribune, 9 July 2026 President Emmanuel Macron is limping to the end of his administration as an unpopular and more and more ineffective-looking figure. — Eliot A. Cohen, The Atlantic, 9 July 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for limping

Noun

Economic exhaustion and an atmosphere of fear have left virtually no part of Iranian existence untouched.

— Greg Dixon, NPR, 28 Aug. 2026
That means, for example, Jason and Lucia can gain or lose weight, build muscle and incur physical markers of exhaustion.

— Angela Yang, NBC news, 27 Aug. 2026

Definition of exhaustion

Verb

Summary The Chicago Cubs are currently shuffling their infield due to Dansby Swanson's oblique injury, moving Nico Hoerner to shortstop and Pedro Ramírez to second base.

— Peter Chawaga, Forbes.com, 21 Aug. 2026
Keeping your eye on Bredeson is as hard as tracking a ball beneath shuffling cups.

— Alec Lewis, New York Times, 18 Aug. 2026

Definition of shuffling

Verb

The teddy bears, the stumbling answers, the whole morning in the Cotillion was a mess.

— Noah Shachtman, Vanity Fair, 25 Aug. 2026
Calhoun, who moved to Kansas City from Ames, Iowa, in 2016, started photography during the pandemic after stumbling across a photography video on YouTube.

— Kansas City Star, Kansas City Star, 24 Aug. 2026

Definition of stumbling

Verb

As mentioned previously, Babcock obstinately played a late-career Marleau in significant minutes during his time in Toronto with dragging results.

— Janson Duench, New York Times, 25 Aug. 2026
The officer ordered him to stop, but the man continued driving, dragging the officer a short distance.

— Mike Hellgren, CBS News, 23 Aug. 2026

Definition of dragging

Noun

Warships may board vessels suspected of piracy, slave trading, statelessness or false flagging.

— John Calabrese, The Conversation, 6 July 2026
The footnote says that while the locations of some gas lines were marked with painting and flagging, the location of the gas line that was struck by a third-party contractor had not been identified and marked.

— Matthew Ablon, CBS News, 1 July 2026

Definition of flagging

Verb

Brendan McDermid | Reuters A Goldman Sachs partner leading one of the bank’s flagship artificial intelligence projects warned that AI’s spread across Wall Street risks hobbling the thinking capabilities of the next generation of financiers.

— Hugh Son, CNBC, 24 Aug. 2026
And that Amegadjie, at the end of a running play during a red zone period, came up hobbling with an apparent right leg injury that prompted him to slam his helmet to the grass before leaving practice for the rest of the afternoon?

— Dan Wiederer, New York Times, 19 Aug. 2026

Definition of hobbling

Verb

The papers served to underline how central banks are struggling to keep up with challenges introduced by technology.

— Maria Eloisa Capurro, Fortune, 29 Aug. 2026
The longer the current situation continues, the greater the strain on an economy already struggling with shortages, inflation and restrictions on trade.

— Hamidreza Azizi, Time, 29 Aug. 2026

Definition of struggling

Verb

One of the groups was seen leaving about three hours afterward, according to the NYPD, while the second odd circumstance ended after individuals were seen crawling out and leaving in a vehicle more than two and a half hours after.

— Amethyst Martinez, USA Today, 24 Aug. 2026
Nidhi imagined the baby crawling around in her mother’s body, desperately seeking the uterus, and, failing to find it in its proper place, quietly shrivelling up and dying.

— Madhuri Vijay, New Yorker, 16 Aug. 2026

Definition of crawling

Browse Nearby Words

limpidness

limping

limpness

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Style

“Limping.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/limping. Accessed 1 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of limping

noun

verb

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