budge
verb (used without object)
to move slightly; begin to move.
budge
1 American
[buhj]
/ bʌdʒ /
verb (used without object)
-
budges,
present (3rd person singular)
-
budged,
past participle, past
-
budging
present participle
-
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.
verb (used with object)
-
budges,
present (3rd person singular)
-
budged,
past participle, past
-
budging
present participle
budge
2
American
[buhj]
/ bʌdʒ /
noun
adjective
-
made from, trimmed, or lined with budge.
-
Obsolete. pompous; solemn.
Budge
3
American
[buhj]
/ bʌdʒ /
noun
budge
1
British
/ bʌdʒ /
verb
-
to move, however slightly
the car won't budge
-
to change or cause to change opinions, etc
Budge
2
British
/ bʌdʒ /
noun
budge
3
British
/ bʌdʒ /
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
budgesimple
-
budgessimple
-
have budgedperfect
-
has budgedperfect
-
am budgingprogressive
-
are budgingprogressive
-
is budgingprogressive
-
have been budgingperfect progressive
-
has been budgingperfect progressive
Past
-
budgedsimple
-
had budgedperfect
-
was budgingprogressive
-
were budgingprogressive
-
had been budgingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of budge1
1580–90; < Anglo-French, Middle French bouger to stir < Vulgar Latin *bullicāre to bubble, frequentative of Latin bullīre; see boil 1
Origin of budge2
1350–1400; Middle English bugee, perhaps akin to budget
Explanation
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.
Vocabulary lists containing budge
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List 1
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
If Acme won’t budge, small-estate probate could provide a more-than-adequate safety net.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 27, 2026
"I kept insisting but my mum just wouldn't budge," he says.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
“They really put a lot of pressure on him, and he didn’t budge, near as I can tell,” said Kohn, who later became a Fed governor and vice chairman.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026
That will keep the share price moving higher, even if GM’s market value doesn’t budge.
From Barron's ● Jun. 18, 2026
And how, to the great distress of Uncle Al, he refused to budge until he had swept her off her feet and married her.
From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen
In tennis history, Alcaraz surpassed Don Budge, who had won the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open by the age of 22 years and 355 days in 1938.
From BBC ● Feb. 1, 2026
At 22 and nearly nine months, Alcaraz is now the youngest man to win all four majors, breaking an 87-year-old record held by the American Don Budge.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 1, 2026
Rod Laver and Don Budge are the two men to have done it.
From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2023
He never had a formal lesson, but said he learned the sport by watching other players and reading a how-to guide by Budge, the Grand Slam champion.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 9, 2023
They stay in Ballygunge, Tollygunge, Salt Lake, Budge Budge, ferried by endless bumpy taxi rides back and forth through the city.
From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri
Despite the difficulties and dilemmas, her friends and colleagues agree she is not someone who budges easily.
From BBC ● Mar. 9, 2024
I’m hedging because the subject so lacks in novelty and only budges grudgingly from the predictable.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 22, 2022
And without Notre Dame, it’s increasingly unlikely the Big Ten budges — for now.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 6, 2022
Even if that number never budges in the current crisis, the damage is already here.
From New York Times ● Aug. 21, 2020
She looks around the tent, but no one budges.
From "Warcross" by Marie Lu
More than a century later, the vocabulary has modernized, but the underlying idea has barely budged.
From Salon ● Aug. 28, 2026
But despite some “incredible” offers, they haven’t budged.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026
A gauge that measures average expected inflation rate over a five-year period beginning exactly five years from today has barely budged, up just 0.14% points since the war started.
From Barron's ● May 29, 2026
There is one important metric, however, that hasn’t moved much as the rally has continued to rip higher: While prices have climbed, forward price-to-earnings ratios for semiconductors have hardly budged.
From MarketWatch ● May 13, 2026
Maddie budged over a little and made room for another body beneath the umbrella.
From "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein
Big companies continue to trumpet return-to-office mandates, but the amount of time Americans work remotely is barely budging, suggesting WFH is here to stay.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 15, 2026
Chevron and Exxon Mobil were barely budging on the heels of first-quarter earnings, falling 0.9% and 0.8%, respectively.
From Barron's ● May 1, 2026
Yoweri Museveni seized the top job in 1986 following an armed uprising and at the age of 81, he shows no signs of budging.
From BBC ● Jan. 11, 2026
For now, the recommended strategy is that “AI equity leadership ain’t budging for the time being.”
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 31, 2025
It came down hard and cold, and Genie wanted to go in, but Grandpop wasn’t budging.
From "As Brave As You" by Jason Reynolds
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.
