elbow grease
noun
: hard work
There is just no substitution for the elbow grease involved in promotion. You just have to get out there and work hard to get the word to the stores that the book is available.—
Andy Shafran
Andy Shafran
especially
: vigorously applied physical labor or effort
Best of all, the metal handle is bendable, making it easy to defat liquids of varying depths. Kudos to a kitchen tool that spares elbow grease. —Grace Young
Grace Young Synonyms
Examples of elbow grease in a Sentence
It's going to take some elbow grease to get this counter clean.
with a little polish and a lot of elbow grease, I was able to make the old silver teapot shine again
Recent Examples on the Web
Others, like this one with over 160K views, require a bit more elbow grease.
—Mary Cornetta, Better Homes & Gardens, 27 June 2024
Simplify your cleaning routine to create a clean, happy, and healthy home — minus the elbow grease.
—Anna Kasper, Rolling Stone, 25 June 2024
And President Barack Obama and I certainly relied on old-fashioned diplomatic elbow grease to hammer out a last-minute accord at the Copenhagen conference on climate change last December.
—Hillary Rodham Clinton, Foreign Affairs, 1 Nov. 2010
Instead, invest in a handheld vacuum cleaner to get the job done faster with less elbow grease.
—Clara McMahon, Peoplemag, 24 May 2024
See all Example Sentences for elbow grease 
Mary Cornetta, Better Homes & Gardens, 27 June 2024
Simplify your cleaning routine to create a clean, happy, and healthy home — minus the elbow grease.
—Anna Kasper, Rolling Stone, 25 June 2024
And President Barack Obama and I certainly relied on old-fashioned diplomatic elbow grease to hammer out a last-minute accord at the Copenhagen conference on climate change last December.
—Hillary Rodham Clinton, Foreign Affairs, 1 Nov. 2010
Instead, invest in a handheld vacuum cleaner to get the job done faster with less elbow grease.
—Clara McMahon, Peoplemag, 24 May 2024
See all Example Sentences for elbow grease
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'elbow grease.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near elbow grease
Cite this Entry
“Elbow grease.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/elbow%20grease. Accessed 15 Jul. 2024.
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