pushover
Americannoun
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pushovers
plural
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Informal. anything done easily.
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Informal. an easily defeated person or team.
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Informal. a person who is easily persuaded, influenced, or seduced.
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Rocketry. a displacement in a horizontal direction of the trajectory of a missile or rocket.
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Aeronautics. push-down.
noun
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something that is easily achieved or accomplished
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a person, team, etc, that is easily taken advantage of or defeated
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of pushover
1905–10, noun use of verb phrase push over
Explanation
A pushover is a person who's easy to fool or influence. A substitute teacher who's a pushover is easily convinced that the class usually spends an hour watching music videos. If you're a pushover, you find it hard to deny anyone what they ask for. If your mom's a pushover, it means it's a breeze to get her to say yes when you ask for something. A babysitter who's a pushover will let the kids stay up way past their bedtime. If you think about it, the word makes sense: if you can push someone over easily, then that person can't stand up against you. Around 1900, pushover meant "an easy job or task," and by 1922 it also referred to people.
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:
It may not be a shoo-in, either; Australia, expected to be a bit of a pushover, defied expectations to beat Turkey in an upset last weekend.
From Slate ● Jun. 18, 2026
This showed the Lakers that the Pelicans were not just going to be a pushover.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 4, 2026
But Martin made clear to Truman that he wouldn’t be a pushover.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 7, 2026
Mr Xi will be friendly - he knows that China needs the US - but he will also show he is no pushover.
From BBC ● Apr. 26, 2024
Pollard was a pushover, and all the down-and-outers knew exactly where to go to pick up a few bucks.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
Fulham are no pushovers and they drew this fixture last season, but no-one is stopping Arsenal at the moment.
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2025
“We advise consumers to give insurers the chance to do the right thing but to not be pushovers and realize insurers are for-profit companies and not charitable organizations,” she said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 15, 2025
The Bulldogs are no pushovers but arrive between visits from Oklahoma State and USC.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 11, 2023
Scotland captain Andy Robertson says visitors Cyprus will be no pushovers as the "toughest group in the whole of the Euro qualifiers" starts on Saturday.
From BBC ● Mar. 24, 2023
Planetary police are all pushovers and you start to feel you can go on forever if they're your only competition.
From The Misplaced Battleship by John Schoenherr
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.
