shove
1 Americanverb (used with object)
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shoves,
present (3rd person singular)
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shoved,
past participle, past
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shoving
present participle
-
to move along by force from behind; push.
Could you help me shove this table back to where it was?
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to push roughly or rudely; jostle.
Hey, quit shoving us—you can wait your turn like everyone else.
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Slang: Often Vulgar. to go to hell with.
Voters are telling Congress to shove its new tax plan.
verb (used without object)
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shoves,
present (3rd person singular)
-
shoved,
past participle, past
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shoving
present participle
-
to push.
OK, all hands on the back of this crate, and on the count of three, shove!
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Baseball. to pitch with exceptional focus and effectiveness.
This young closer is spoiling us—we assume he’ll walk out to the mound and shove, and that’s exactly what he does.
noun
verb phrase
idioms
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shove it, (used to express contempt or belligerence): Also stick it
I told them to take the job and shove it.
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when / if push comes to shove. push.
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shove it up your / one's ass, go to hell: a term of contempt, abuse, disagreement, or the like. Also stick it up yourone's ass
noun
verb
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to give a thrust or push to (a person or thing)
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(tr) to give a violent push to; jostle
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(intr) to push one's way roughly
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informal (tr) to put (something) somewhere, esp hurriedly or carelessly
shove it in the bin
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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shovesimple
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shovessimple
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have shovedperfect
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has shovedperfect
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am shovingprogressive
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are shovingprogressive
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is shovingprogressive
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have been shovingperfect progressive
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has been shovingperfect progressive
Past
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shovedsimple
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had shovedperfect
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was shovingprogressive
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were shovingprogressive
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had been shovingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of shove1
First recorded before 900; (for the verb) Middle English shouven, shuven, Old English scēofan, scūfan; cognate with Dutch schuiven, obsolete German schauben, Old Norse skūfa; akin to Gothic -skiuban; noun derivative of the verb
Origin of shove2
First recorded in 1680–90; apparently variant of shive 2
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:
When push came to shove, the human with the archive was always right.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
Thousands of football fans attempted to shove their way into Mexico City's official World Cup fan zone on Thursday, creating chaotic scenes shortly before kick-off in the opening game.
From Barron's ● Jun. 11, 2026
He could just take a tight end or whoever came to block him, grab his pads, shove him off and go make the play.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 20, 2026
Ever since the Philadelphia Eagles began lining up behind their quarterback to shove him forward for first downs, the play known as the Tush Push has driven the NFL absolutely mad.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 26, 2026
I shove the phone deep inside my pocket.
From "I Can Make This Promise" by Christine Day
And another AI video on X depicts the pair running together through a city engulfed in flames before the female executive shoves him aside in a dramatic scene.
From Barron's ● May 18, 2026
Soon enough, it shoves out the old way of doing things entirely, leaving us with no living, breathing person left to hear our frustrations.
From Salon ● Apr. 13, 2026
Outside the kiln, Kosal, a father of two, scoops up a mix of fabric, plastic and rubber that he shoves into the hatch before shutting it quickly.
From BBC ● Jan. 31, 2024
For all the eloquent monologues, it sometimes feels as though Lipstein shoves Herschel into scenes that don’t feel natural.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2023
He shoves the pages into the toilet and flushes.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
Why is that a favored constitutional provision while this stuff all gets shoved to the side?
From Slate ● Aug. 17, 2026
"I don't have, as unbelievable as it is as mayor of this region, any power to fix this problem, but it doesn't mean I haven't shoved my nose in," she says.
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026
The strategists also pointed out that investor rotation into other sectors has lifted growth prospects and valuations of many “old economy” industries, long shoved aside by investors.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 3, 2026
He wants, if utterly hopelessly, the war shoved back into the box it once occupied, a war that Mr. Putin had grown comfortable that he could sustain indefinitely.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
Then, as if this was a totally normal thing to do, Trey shoved a handful of feathers toward me like it was the bouquet of flowers.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Video footage showed mourners pushing and shoving each other to get close to the casket as it was carried by hand through the mausoleum's halls.
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026
In New York, the opening of the Swatch store in Times Square was met with "pushing and shoving" in the waiting crowd, John McIntosh, who had been in line since Wednesday, told AFP.
From Barron's ● May 16, 2026
And to think he still operates with such brute force that he was shoving Rocket defenders all over the court.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 22, 2026
Left with no idea how to wrap itself up, “Undertone” throws every one of those horror tropes under a hydraulic press, shoving them together, hoping that the result will be prettier than just polished garbage.
From Salon ● Mar. 15, 2026
A man wearing suspenders and a brown bowler stoops, shoving thick cloth into my hand.
From "Will’s Race for Home" by Jewell Parker Rhodes
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.
