Push is a transitive verb meaning to apply force in order to move something away from oneself or in a particular direction. It often implies a deliberate, exertive action rather than a passive movement, and can also be used metaphorically to urge progress or advancement. In everyday usage, push can describe physical action, social pressure, or motivational effort.
"She had to push the cart through the crowded store."
"Don’t push your luck; the boss isn’t in a generous mood."
"The engine wouldn’t start until you push the lever firmly."
"He’ll push for a faster decision during the meeting."
Push derives from the Middle English pussen, which itself came from Old French pousser (to push, to drive, urge forward). The root is Proto-Germanic *pusjanan, connected to pushing motions and forces. Early senses focused on physical movement, with figurative uses like urging or pressing someone to act appearing in the medieval period. By the 16th century, push broadened to describe not only physical exertion but also social or political pressure and propulsion in machinery and vehicle contexts. The word’s semantic neighborhood includes shove and thrust, sharing emphasis on force, whereas push carries a slightly more generic sense of applying effort in a directed way. In modern English, push spans literal, mechanical, and metaphorical uses—from pushing a door open to pushing for policy changes—yet it maintains a concise sense of forward action and intentionality. First known written uses appear in English texts from the late medieval era, with fully modern spelling and usage settled by the Early Modern period.
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💡 These words have similar meanings to "Push" and can often be used interchangeably.
🔄 These words have opposite meanings to "Push" and show contrast in usage.
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Words that rhyme with "Push"
-ush sounds
Practice with these rhyming pairs to improve your pronunciation consistency:
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Pronounce it as /pʊʃ/. Start with a short, rounded /p/ release, then move to a lax near-close near-back vowel /ʊ/ as in 'pull'. End with the voiceless post-alveolar fricative /ʃ/. Stress is on the single syllable. In connected speech, you may hear slight reduction in rapid contexts, but keep /ʊ/ distinct from /uː/. Audio reference: mirror US and UK pronunciations and keep the /ʃ/ crisp.
Two frequent errors: (1) Replacing /ʊ/ with /ʌ/ as in 'pus[h]'—keep the short, rounded /ʊ/ vowel. (2) Slurring into /pʲʊʃ/ or adding extra vowel sounds; maintain a clean onset /p/ followed directly by /ʊ/ and /ʃ/, with no extra syllable or vowel between. Ensure the /ʃ/ is a clear post-alveolar fricative rather than an /s/ before /h/. Practicing minimal pairs can help you lock the target vowel and consonant timing.
In US, UK, and AU, the core /pʊʃ/ remains, but vowel quality can vary with rhoticity and vowel length in surrounding words. US tends to have a slightly lax /ʊ/ and a crisper /ʃ/, UK may have a marginally tenser /ʊ/ given non-rhotic tendencies in careful speech, and AU often mirrors US pronunciation but with subtle vowel coloration and faster connected speech in casual talk. The /ʃ/ remains consistent across accents.
The difficulty lies in producing a clean short /ʊ/ vowel immediately followed by the blunt /ʃ/ fricative without inserting an extra vowel or gliding. Many speakers also over-pronounce the /p/ or tense the jaw, which distorts the quality of /ʊ/ and weakens the /ʃ/. Practicing short, precise consonant-vowel transitions and a crisp final /ʃ/ helps stabilize the word across contexts.
A unique point is the avoidance of the full vowel duration that some learners apply when saying /ʊ/. The target is a quick, lax vowel rather than a rounded, longer vowel. You’ll hear a rapid transition: /p/ → /ʊ/ → /ʃ/. Mastering this requires keeping the jaw minimally dropped, lips rounded for /ʊ/, and a forward tongue posture for a slightly centralized /ʊ/. This helps retain the crisp /ʃ/ at the end without vowel intrusion.
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