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Synonyms

butting

American  
[buht-ing] / ˈbʌt ɪŋ /

noun

  1. a boundary; limit.

Etymology

Origin of butting

First recorded in 1545–55; butt 3 + -ing 1

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.

Each has something the other needs, which pulls them together despite occasionally butting heads.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 15, 2026

Steyer, who founded his group in 2003, has long advocated walking a line between being an activist butting heads with tech and media companies, and partnering with them on safety.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 10, 2026

Yet "butting against this is the national debt, which is now around $36 trillion."

From Salon • Jan. 5, 2025

But just two years after ascending to power, that ability seems to have fizzled out – leaving Gachagua butting heads with the president and in a position where many legislators are pushing for his removal.

From BBC • Oct. 1, 2024

The priests were butting their way through the crowd.

From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White

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.