Used to describe an ongoing action or state that is currently taking place in the immediate present.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A few takeaways: Companies are buckling up for a higher-yield environment; spreads—the amount a company pays above a benchmark Treasury—may widen; and those issuing debt may do so with shorter, cheaper, maturities.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
"Right now 150 million people are living under extreme heat, hundreds have died, schools are shut, grids are buckling," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X.
From Barron's ● Jun. 28, 2026
With natural disasters now affecting more people across the United States, insurance markets in many states are buckling under the weight of payouts to those hit by wildfires and hurricanes.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 19, 2024
A number of developing economies are buckling under the toxic mix of high inflation, food and energy shocks, elevated borrowing costs and the fallout from climate change.
From Reuters ● Oct. 7, 2022
Our captains sit in council, our heroes take the field, our fighting men are buckling on their harness, our martyrs have already died, and you are blind to it, blind to it all!
From The Kempton-Wace Letters by Jack London
