muscle

American  

[muhs-uhl] / ˈmʌs əl /

noun

• muscles
  plural

1. a tissue composed of cells or fibers, the contraction of which produces movement in the body.

2. an organ, composed of muscle tissue, that contracts to produce a particular movement.

3. muscular strength; brawn.

   It will take a great deal of muscle to move this box.

   Synonyms:

   force, might, vigor, power

4. power or force, especially of a coercive nature.

   They put muscle into their policy and sent the marines.

5. lean meat.

6. Slang.

   1. a hired thug or thugs.

   2. a bodyguard or bodyguards.

      a gangster protected by muscle.

7. a necessary or fundamental thing, quality, etc..

   The editor cut the muscle from the article.

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verb (used with object)

• muscles,
  present (3rd person singular)
• muscled,
  past participle,  past
• muscling
  present participle

1. Informal. to force or compel others to make way for.

   He muscled his way into the conversation.

2. to make more muscular.

   The dancing lessons muscled her legs.

3. to strengthen or toughen; put muscle into.

4. Informal. to accomplish by muscular force.

   to muscle the partition into place.

5. Informal. to force or compel, as by threats, promises, influence, or the like.

   to muscle a bill through Congress.

verb (used without object)

• muscles,
  present (3rd person singular)
• muscled,
  past participle,  past
• muscling
  present participle

1. Informal. to make one's way by force or fraud (often followed by in orinto ).

adjective

1. Informal. (of a machine, engine, or vehicle) being very powerful or capable of high-speed performance.

   a muscle power saw.

muscle British  

/ ˈmʌsəl /

noun

1. a tissue composed of bundles of elongated cells capable of contraction and relaxation to produce movement in an organ or part

2. an organ composed of muscle tissue

3. strength or force

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verb

1. informal (intr; often foll by in, on, etc) to force one's way (in)

muscle Scientific  

/ mŭs′əl /

1. A body tissue composed of sheets or bundles of cells that contract to produce movement or increase tension. Muscle cells contain filaments made of the proteins actin and myosin, which lie parallel to each other. When a muscle is signaled to contract, the actin and myosin filaments slide past each other in an overlapping pattern.

2. ◆ Skeletal muscle effects voluntary movement and is made up of bundles of elongated cells (muscle fibers), each of which contains many nuclei.

3. ◆ Smooth muscle provides the contractile force for the internal organs and is controlled by the autonomic nervous system. Smooth muscle cells are spindle-shaped and each contains a single nucleus.

4. ◆ Cardiac muscle makes up the muscle of the heart and consists of a meshwork of striated cells.

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muscle Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing muscle

• flex one's muscles
• move a muscle

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• transmuscle
  noun
• muscleless
  adjective
• muscly
  adjective
• overmuscled
  adjective
• unmuscled
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• muscles
  plural

Participles

• muscling
  present
• muscled
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• muscle
  simple
• muscles
  simple
• have muscled
  perfect
• has muscled
  perfect
• am muscling
  progressive
• are muscling
  progressive
• is muscling
  progressive
• have been muscling
  perfect progressive
• has been muscling
  perfect progressive

Past

• muscled
  simple
• had muscled
  perfect
• was muscling
  progressive
• were muscling
  progressive
• had been muscling
  perfect progressive

Future

• will muscle
  simple
• will have muscled
  perfect
• will be muscling
  progressive
• will have been muscling
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of muscle

1525–35; < Latin mūsculus literally, little mouse (from fancied resemblance to some muscles), equivalent to mūs mouse + -culus -cle ¹

Explanation

Do you have the muscle to muscle your way to the top? Muscle is both a noun and verb associated with strength, power, or the use of physical force. In addition to biological muscle, like the biceps in your arms, muscle can refer simply to power or authority, as in “We have the muscle to get the job done.” Muscle can also refer to a hired thug. In a similar sense, muscle is used as a verb to mean “use force.” A bully might muscle someone out of their lunch money, or you might muscle your way through a crowd by pushing people out of your way.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

muscle muscles muscled muscling

Blocking 15-PGDH, or otherwise raising levels of prostaglandin E2, has been shown to support regeneration in damaged muscle, nerve, bone, colon, liver and blood cells in young mice.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 6, 2026

Díaz was feeling tightness around the front side of his right trapezius muscle, which could have contributed to Díaz dropping his arm angle.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026

Europe’s share of global drug research has fallen to 31% from 43% in 1990, they said, as China, for one, is aggressively building up its biotech muscle.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026

The red-hot chip stock takes a hit after Elon Musk signals rival Taiwan Semi may muscle into his Terafab chip venture.

From Barron's ● Oct. 5, 2026

In some cases this is obvious: a kite won’t help me understand how a bird flies, or a steam engine how a muscle works.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

Strength training works best when combined with adequate nutrition, particularly sufficient dietary protein, which provides the building blocks muscles need to repair and grow.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 2, 2026

Strength training, also known as resistance exercise, involves working muscles against a force.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 2, 2026

“Why it’s useful isn’t because we care anything about muscles in the forearm,” says Peterson.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026

Leigh had previously said he was suffering from a medical condition affecting his muscles and that it would probably be his "last film".

From Barron's ● Sep. 26, 2026

Eventually the muscles expel heat faster than it can be replaced.

From "Phineas Gage" by John Fleischman

With less than three minutes on the clock, prop Thomas du Toit, heading back to his homeland from Bath this summer, muscled through Ellis Genge and Ollie Chessum to score from close range.

From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026

With the Wayans brothers firmly back in the driver’s seat, horror parody “Scary Movie” muscled its way past He-Man for the top spot at the box office this weekend.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 7, 2026

Anthropic, run by the former OpenAI executive Dario Amodei, has muscled further into financial services since it launched a suite of tools catering to banks, financial-technology firms, and others last year.

From Barron's ● May 5, 2026

Yet Musk muscled through, and his lore was born.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 3, 2026

He had filled out, from the slight boy of their university days to a fleshier, more muscled man, and perhaps because he had filled out, he seemed shorter than she remembered.

From "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

High-speed direct-to-device data plans are another example of space-based systems muscling in on traditional terrestrial wireless data providers.

From Barron's ● Mar. 29, 2026

That signals that geopolitical risks could be muscling their way into asset prices, potentially overshadowing positives from the economic cycle and corporate earnings.

From MarketWatch ● Feb. 1, 2026

More recently, the daredevil actor has focused on warm-up stretches, muscling his eight-film franchise to its explosive finale.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 1, 2026

When Atkinson miscued Mitchell Starc, Carey raced first-slip fielder Marnus Labuschagne back towards the boundary, muscling out his team-mate when both threw themselves towards the ball.

From BBC ● Dec. 5, 2025

He was around the back of the bus, muscling a heavy backpack into the trunk.

From "The Honest Truth" by Dan Gemeinhart

Related Words

• clout
• energy
• stamina
• strength
• weight