knuckle under

verb

knuckled under; knuckling under; knuckles under

Examples of knuckle under in a Sentence

encouraged her to stand firm and not knuckle under to political pressure the remote outpost was overrun and forced to knuckle under
Recent Examples on the Web Biden is all too willing to knuckle under both to the environmentalists who want to stop any new conventional-energy development and to the labor bosses who don’t want to see the ports modernized and automated, which might eat into their discretionary funds. The Editors, National Review, 23 June 2022 Please do not knuckle under. Abigail Van Buren, oregonlive, 25 Oct. 2021 His determination to hold on to his dignity, to not knuckle under, marked a pathway for our family to move forward, to expand on what he’d not been allowed to do. Deborah Johnson, The Christian Science Monitor, 13 Feb. 2023 As noted in this space in 2015, the company required participants in its Times Journeys program — pricey overseas trips guided by Times journalists — to knuckle under to an arbitration clause. Erik Wemple, Washington Post, 24 Dec. 2022 Europe’s governing parties can’t knuckle under to Russian blackmail and retain their democratic viability. Holman W. Jenkins, WSJ, 30 Aug. 2022 His bile aimed at the Sulzberger family stems above all from the paper’s coverage and criticism of him, its refusal to knuckle under. David Remnick, The New Yorker, 21 Dec. 2021 These are the sorts of people who refuse to knuckle under to the natural world, instead bending it to their desires. Elizabeth Weil, ProPublica, 22 Aug. 2021 Curious about why some people knuckle under in difficult situations while others power through, Paulus and his colleagues set up some unusual experiments. Elizabeth Svoboda, Discover Magazine, 28 Aug. 2014

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'knuckle under.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1869, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of knuckle under was in 1869

Dictionary Entries Near knuckle under

Cite this Entry

“Knuckle under.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/knuckle%20under. Accessed 18 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

knuckle under

verb
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