How to Use throb in a Sentence

throb

1 of 2 verb
  • Her finger throbbed with pain.
  • The music throbs with a Caribbean beat.
  • The slits in his arms well And throb like storm creeks.
    David Roderick, San Francisco Chronicle, 21 Mar. 2018
  • Their cheers blend in with the music that throbs as the clock ticks down on the chefs.
    Jackie Mansky, Smithsonian, 27 Jan. 2017
  • Their cheers blend in with the music that throbs as the clock ticks down on the chefs.
    Jackie Mansky, Smithsonian, 27 Jan. 2017
  • The long rod arched and throbbed as a steelhead thrashed to the surface.
    Paul A. Smith, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 24 Mar. 2018
  • The kind of tired where your face vibrates and your eyes throb.
    Lyz Lenz, Glamour, 26 Nov. 2018
  • His wrists throbbed in time with his heart and kept him awake at night.
    Brendan Fitzgerald, Longreads, 14 Mar. 2020
  • The right side of my face is throbbing — except for my mouth, which is numb.
    Lisa Haney, The Cut, 16 Apr. 2018
  • The young heart throb plays new recruit Matt Brody, a disgraced Olympian.
    Marcy Medina | Wwd, Sun-Sentinel.com, 19 May 2017
  • The pain surfaced in 2011, when Olsen awoke in the middle of the night in France, drenched in sweat, his stomach throbbing.
    Jerry Brewer, chicagotribune.com, 18 Feb. 2018
  • Wind throbbed in ears, and whipped up whitecaps on the Potomac River.
    Martin Weil, Washington Post, 22 Oct. 2023
  • The first sign of a cold sore is usually a throbbing pain in your lip for about one or two days.
    Dr. Leslie Baumann, miamiherald, 19 Feb. 2018
  • Here's the thing: All piercings will probably sting, maybe bleed, and then throb for a few hours.
    Samantha Sasso, refinery29.com, 3 July 2019
  • Perhaps the bass guitar throbs from your right side, the synth from the left, and the kick drum is an additive force on both sides.
    Hayden Dingman, PCWorld, 10 Jan. 2019
  • The screen turns scarlet and sinuous, and begins to throb.
    Amanda Petrusich, The New Yorker, 25 Sep. 2023
  • Adrenaline throbbing through my veins made the steep slope an easy climb.
    Steve Meyer, Alaska Dispatch News, 12 July 2017
  • The Hébuterne portraits throb with the passion this couple clearly shared.
    Hamish Bowles, Vogue, 19 Jan. 2018
  • Her skin bled from being rubbed by the constraints, the latex made her face swell, and her back throbbed from being stooped.
    Lexi Pandell, WIRED, 31 Aug. 2023
  • On stage, in public view, the show is a sea of noise and head-banging and throbbing male energy.
    Peter Hamby, The Hive, 4 Dec. 2017
  • Soon thick black smoke is billowing into the air and the street throbs with the buzzing of electricity.
    Ian Duncan, baltimoresun.com, 3 Mar. 2018
  • Manning's testicles throbbed as if every day he'd been kicked in the groin anew.
    Josh Dean, Esquire, 15 Feb. 2017
  • Then both of my shoulder blades started hurting, and then my chest and throat were throbbing.
    Bruce Jenkins, San Francisco Chronicle, 2 Jan. 2018
  • In the years after his career ended, his hands, knees and back throbbed from 13 years of pounding and too many surgeries.
    David Waldstein, New York Times, 22 Sep. 2023
  • Monterey Road, the main street, throbs with taquerias and carnicerias.
    Steve Rubenstein, SFChronicle.com, 4 Aug. 2019
  • The climactic scene and the emotive needle drop would make even the blackest of hearts throb with a little emotion.
    Abid Rahman, The Hollywood Reporter, 9 May 2023
  • Not just in in the spare, throbbing beat, which hums along in the verses before erupting during a trunk-rattling hook.
    Billboard Staff, Billboard, 6 June 2018
  • The rendang throbs with lemongrass, cinnamon and lime leaf.
    Jenn Harris, Los Angeles Times, 7 Aug. 2023
  • Your eyes might begin to water, your head to throb and headlines in today’s newspapers to overwhelm your thoughts.
    Christopher Knight, Los Angeles Times, 15 Nov. 2023
  • Bold cinematography and a soundtrack of throbbing Egyptian rap beats set the scene and compound a sense of social alienation that affects these men yet strengthens the family.
    Aziz Zoromba, The New Yorker, 15 Dec. 2023
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throb

2 of 2 noun
  • The pain has changed to a dull throb.
  • Even the idea of the long ride on 66 caused a throb in his cracked hip.
    Tom Hanks, Harper's Magazine, 5 Jan. 2023
  • It’s not just the heat, this steady throb of chile-pepper capsaicin.
    Tim Carman, Washington Post, 6 Sep. 2022
  • The trauma sticks to my ribs; sometimes a dull ache, sometimes a sudden pinch, and sometimes a painful throb.
    Danielle Campoamor, Harper's BAZAAR, 21 May 2018
  • From now on, the days shorten, football intrudes, the dull throb of daily obligation gets in the way.
    Los Angeles Times, 29 Aug. 2019
  • This is how the human race ends: with the shallow clang of metal on metal, a squalling screech, the heavy stomp and throb of percussion.
    Judy Berman, Time, 21 Feb. 2020
  • Justin Bieber, then a wholesome teen heart-throb, meets Baldwin backstage at the Today show.
    Sarah Spellings, The Cut, 9 July 2018
  • The conclusion of your letter makes my heart throb more than a cannonade.
    CBS News, 9 Aug. 2022
  • The sting of a paper cut or the throb of a dog bite is perceived through the skin, where cells react to mechanical forces and send an electrical message to the brain.
    Quanta Magazine, 27 Jan. 2020
  • David Portillo, as Ferrando, sings ardently, but his edgy tenor emphasizes a bit of a throb here and there.
    Scott Cantrell, Dallas News, 25 Mar. 2023
  • The lyre’s mournful throb was also heard whenever the Dolphins’ starting quarterback, Josh Rosen, touched the ball.
    Jody Rosen, The New Yorker, 19 Oct. 2019
  • Common throughout those years was a pulsing throb in my gums, a shock wave up a root when biting down, a headache that agitated me in classrooms.
    Erin Blakemore, Longreads, 19 May 2017
  • The air throbs with dread-inducing electronic tones; the five other cast members enter and sit with their backs to her, not yet caught up in her sad merry-go-round.
    Helen Shaw, The New Yorker, 9 Mar. 2023
  • After his wife’s disclosure, he was struck by sudden shame, dull throbs in his throat, sunbursts of confused pain stirred around by the vague teachings of his childhood faith.
    Aaron Gilbreath, Longreads, 22 May 2017
  • The throb of the Siberian virtuoso's vibrato and the strength of his bow arm made the slow movement feel like a continuous cantabile line stretching to infinity.
    John Von Rhein, chicagotribune.com, 22 July 2017
  • An aura of dread and violence is summoned by the off-center images, the syncopations of the editing and the relentless hum and throb of Jonny Greenwood’s score.
    A. O. Scott, New York Times, 4 Apr. 2018
  • Her songs continued to toggle between moments of twee intimacy and the collectivizing throb of the dance floor.
    Hua Hsu, The New Yorker, 30 Mar. 2020
  • If casting shadows over the neighbor’s house doesn’t suffice to intimidate, add the potent baritone throb of a big Hemi V-8 engine.
    Tony Swan, Car and Driver, 16 June 2017
  • Walking down a modern urban thoroughfare, the throb and dynamism of our benighted race is constantly on show.
    The School Of Life, CNN, 27 May 2020
  • In one of the oldest souks stands Bakdash, a shop more than a century old, where booza (Arabic for ice cream) is beaten in buckets with giant wooden mallets, up and down in an inexorable throb.
    Ligaya Mishan, New York Times, 2 July 2019
  • His stories taught me that being a fisherman was a life of relentless work; sleepless, gut-churning nights; and endless days punctuated only by the throb of the boat’s engine.
    Matthew Bremner, Slate Magazine, 24 July 2017
  • There’s a disconcerting throb of life in these jigglers, an insistence on being in between, neither solid nor liquid, not quite pacified.
    Ligaya Mishan Kyoko Hamada Martin Bourne, New York Times, 14 Sep. 2022
  • Austin Butler has been scoring raves for his chameleonic turn as Elvis Presley, charting his life and career from his early days as a gyrating heart throb through his corpulent coda as a Vegas regular.
    Brent Lang, Variety, 24 June 2022
  • The dull throb of electronica intruded on a comfortably organic and analog approach.
    James Robins, Vulture, 1 May 2023
  • The pain has changed to a dull throb.
  • Even the idea of the long ride on 66 caused a throb in his cracked hip.
    Tom Hanks, Harper's Magazine, 5 Jan. 2023
  • It’s not just the heat, this steady throb of chile-pepper capsaicin.
    Tim Carman, Washington Post, 6 Sep. 2022
  • The trauma sticks to my ribs; sometimes a dull ache, sometimes a sudden pinch, and sometimes a painful throb.
    Danielle Campoamor, Harper's BAZAAR, 21 May 2018
  • From now on, the days shorten, football intrudes, the dull throb of daily obligation gets in the way.
    Los Angeles Times, 29 Aug. 2019
  • This is how the human race ends: with the shallow clang of metal on metal, a squalling screech, the heavy stomp and throb of percussion.
    Judy Berman, Time, 21 Feb. 2020

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

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