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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
The front lines of our legal edifice have been divided and conquered, with premier law firms knuckling under and meekly promising to shut up and work for Trump, while the Supreme Court carefully pulls its punches to avoid a showdown. Tom Rogers, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 Apr. 2025 Of course, Cruz knuckled under a little while later. James Hohmann, Washington Post, 9 July 2024 Miraculously, however, it is told in the voice of a musician, Rainy, a man who refuses to knuckle under and whose tones remain kind and more hopeful than despairing. Katherine A. Powers, Washington Post, 22 June 2024 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

Word History

First Known Use

1869, in the meaning defined above

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

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Knuckle under.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/knuckle%20under. Accessed 13 May. 2025.

Kids Definition

knuckle under

verb
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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