to move slightly; begin to move.
He stepped on the gas but the car didn't budge.
to change one's opinion or stated position; yield.
Once her father had said “no,” he wouldn't budge.
made from, trimmed, or lined with budge.
Obsolete. pompous; solemn.
to move, however slightly
the car won't budge
to change or cause to change opinions, etc
1580–90; < Anglo-French, Middle French bouger to stir < Vulgar Latin *bullicāre to bubble, frequentative of Latin bullīre; see boil 1
1350–1400; Middle English bugee, perhaps akin to budget
To budge is to move — but just a little bit. People can budge physically from where they're sitting or standing, and people can budge from opinions and positions too. If a bunch of your friends are sitting on a bench, and they're taking up too much space for you to sit, you could ask them to budge, meaning "Move over!" If you hate eggs and refuse to eat them no matter how they're cooked, you are refusing to budge from your anti-egg policy. Budge is most often used in a negative way, as in "I won't budge" or "They wouldn't budge." This word often applies to stubborn people. Since budge means to move just a tiny bit, what's the big deal? Someone who accuses you of not budging is basically saying you should.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The stock barely reacted to results of an experiment with the Cleveland Clinic at the start of the month, and didn’t budge when IBM released data from a neutron scattering experiment in March.
From Barron's • May 22, 2026
BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, did not budge and only redeemed 5%, some $620 million in all, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
From MarketWatch • Mar. 25, 2026
The Olympian didn’t budge, and the standoff ended with his disqualification.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 15, 2026
Prime Minister Keir Starmer had to reassure the public that the government wouldn’t budge on this, and thanks to pressure from constituents, it didn’t.
From Slate • Feb. 13, 2026
The twins looked sideways at each other, but didn’t budge.
From "Summer of the Mariposas" by Guadalupe García McCall
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
