thruster

T1H4R1U1S1T1E1R1
US/ˈθɹʌ.stɚ/

noun

One who thrusts, who pushes or stabs.

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UncommonScrabble 11

Meanings

nounthruster (plural thrusters)

plural thrusters

  1. One who thrusts, who pushes or stabs.

    Nevertheless osteopaths are coming to regard themselves not so much as thrusters, or even as repositioners, of bones, but as releasers of the patient's own recuperative forces.

    1978, Brian Inglis, The Book of the Back, page 109
  2. A device for propelling an object, especially a spacecraft or a ship (marine vessel).
  3. hobbiesA surfboard (usually a shortboard) with three fins of approximately equal size, one centred at the back, one on each side about 25cm forward and out near the rails.
  4. An ambitious, driven person; a go-getter.

    His hi-spec gear suggests that he's a corporate high-flyer and he's definitely a bit of a thruster, very much in control, taking care of business.

    2006, Robert Graham, How to Write Fiction (And Think About It), page 16
    1 more example

    The executive is a thruster with ideas to expand or improve the business and his superiors fail to react—for whatever reason—and do not give acceptable explanations.

    1973, Director, volume 25, numbers 7-12, page 346

Synonyms & antonyms

Narrower

nounone who intrudes or pushes themself forward

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Also see

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

From thrust + -er. The surfboard sense was coined (but never trademarked) by Simon Anderson, who created the design in 1980. The name was almost immediately applied generically to any surfboard with that fin design.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with thruster

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Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

thruster. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/thruster

MLA

“thruster.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/thruster. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “thruster,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/thruster.

Source: thruster on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.