tug
Americanverb (used with object)
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tugs,
present (3rd person singular)
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tugged,
past participle, past
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tugging
present participle
verb (used without object)
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tugs,
present (3rd person singular)
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tugged,
past participle, past
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tugging
present participle
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to pull with force or effort.
to tug at a stuck drawer.
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to strive hard; labor; toil.
noun
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tugs
plural
verb
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to pull or drag with sharp or powerful movements
the boy tugged at the door handle
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(tr) to tow (a vessel) by means of a tug
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(intr) to work; toil
noun
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a strong pull or jerk
he gave the rope a tug
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Also called: tugboat, towboat. a boat with a powerful engine, used for towing barges, ships, etc
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a hard struggle or fight
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a less common word for trace 2
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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tugsimple
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tugssimple
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have tuggedperfect
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has tuggedperfect
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am tuggingprogressive
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are tuggingprogressive
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is tuggingprogressive
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have been tuggingperfect progressive
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has been tuggingperfect progressive
Past
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tuggedsimple
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had tuggedperfect
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was tuggingprogressive
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were tuggingprogressive
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had been tuggingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of tug
1175–1225; Middle English toggen to play-wrestle, contend; akin to Old English togian to tow 1
Explanation
To tug is to forcefully pull or drag something. You might need your sister's help to tug your knee-high boots off at the end of a long day. A child might tug at his parent's arm and a commuter might tug a rolling suitcase behind her as she enters a subway car. Something else that tugs is a tugboat — and tug is a common nickname for these boats that are designed to pull (or push) other vessels. Tug and tow share the same root word meaning "to pull" or "to lead."
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:
AI agents may give everyday shoppers an edge, but the technology is igniting an even more intense tug of war over consumer dollars.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2026
Bowen adds that the Chinese have demonstrated "space tug capability", saying: "A vehicle can go up to a satellite, can grapple it and move it into a different orbit."
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
You tapped into something really universal with the strife between boomer parents and their millennial children — a real tug of war for power that’s happening in a lot of people’s lives right now.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 2026
Their model describes a computational tug of war between two fundamentally different kinds of neural organization, both of which are established even before birth.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 31, 2026
Pita asked, as she watched the boy tug at the goat.
From "Summer of the Mariposas" by Guadalupe García McCall
You’re doing fine, but something tugs at you from deep within.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 7, 2026
Sony Music Entertainment, which tugs at the tension between protecting intellectual property and the internet.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 27, 2025
But even the casting itself deliberately tugs on our own memories.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2025
It found the pilot had not worked with tugs like Biter before and "did not understand" what the tug would be doing on the manoeuvre.
From BBC ● Nov. 13, 2024
She tugs lightly on a newly black strand.
From "The Wrong Way Home" by Kate O’Shaughnessy
One decision tugged at another, and by the time I checked out, dinner had become rigatoni with chicken, spinach and sun-dried tomato sauce.
From Salon ● Aug. 20, 2026
Farmers in tractors tugged water cisterns and aimed hoses at the blaze.
From Barron's ● Jul. 13, 2026
Harpootlian tugged on the heavy restraints binding Murdaugh’s hands, waist and feet.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026
But it is the crisis over Greenland that has really tugged at the fabric of the entire transatlantic alliance between the US and Europe.
From BBC ● Feb. 9, 2026
She allowed me to hold her for barely a moment before she took my hand and tugged.
From "Not Nothing" by Gayle Forman
That size and athleticism often leaves defenders with no recourse but tugging, grabbing and hanging onto Smith for dear life.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
After tugging his short shot at history left of the hole, Herbert bent over in disappointment before composing himself to tap in.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
It refers to the way a rotating black hole twists the spacetime around it, tugging on nearby matter such as stars and causing their paths to wobble.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 18, 2025
The starchy pasta water, slowly whisked in, binds it all into a sauce that clings and stretches, tugging at each bite with just enough tension to remind you that this is pasta, not soup.
From Salon ● Dec. 18, 2025
Ivy frowned and shook her head disapprovingly, but she didn’t keep tugging Josie toward the exit, just back closer to the wall.
From "The School for Whatnots" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
