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

By then, he was suffering from fever, chills, muscle pain, a sore throat and bleeding.

From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026

Mestemaker packed on muscle that helped him deliver big downfield hits—which would one day turn him into a weapon as a ball-carrier.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026

Gym rats can check their body composition of fat and muscle, people with heart issues can get their heartbeat captured, and mole owners can get their moles mapped to 0.1 mm.

From Slate ● Oct. 8, 2026

“It’s like a new muscle for players to learn,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone told reporters.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026

His legs were covered in dark greaves; his flesh all thick purple muscle, like the ground.

From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan

Notice any additional workload or twisting moments demanded of the joints and muscles in your legs and hips.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026

According to the NHS, external, verbal dyspraxia is a speech disorder where the muscles have not been damaged, but the messages from the brain that tell the muscles what to do have been affected.

From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026

According to Mayo Clinic, the condition causes temporary weakness or paralysis of facial muscles, and Brolin felt there was “nothing else to blame” for the symptoms.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 7, 2026

Doing the opposite, increasing 15-PGDH in young animals, caused their muscles to shrink and weaken.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 6, 2026

Petroc heaved himself, the muscles straining in his great back, up onto the boat.

From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell

The situation only got worse as WWE muscled out nearly all regional promotions.

From Salon ● Oct. 2, 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

He muscled a brutal straight six over long-on off while hitting spinner Mohammad Nawaz for 17 in the sixth, before nudging singles after Banton nicked off to Usman Tariq.

From BBC ● Feb. 24, 2026

Their wings sprang from their shoulder blades, and their backs and chests were deeply muscled.

From "The Subtle Knife" by Philip Pullman

On the whole, however, economists say there’s no sign AI is muscling people out of their jobs on a massive scale.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 10, 2026

“Nobody is muscling us. All I’ve got to do is show up and do the same thing that I’ve always done, which is be as truthful, and authentic and informed.”

From Los Angeles Times ● May 10, 2026

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

As the operator, you can override the lane-change feature by muscling the car into a new lane.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 20, 2025

Complaining that “the Chicago people” were muscling in on his match race, Swope went into overdrive.

From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand

Related Words

• clout
• energy
• stamina
• strength
• weight