exert

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The land wasn’t empty, and Native American tribes fought fiercely to defend it in alliance with the British, leading Washington to dispatch multiple punitive expeditions to subdue them and exert American control.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 24, 2026

Instead of bothering much about dialogue, “Fuze” is a blueprint of how stress and deference exert themselves upon a workplace.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 23, 2026

A key issue will be the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway into the Gulf through which one-fifth of the world's oil transits -- and where Iran has demonstrated it can exert key leverage.

From Barron's • Apr. 8, 2026

Nobody knows how many, but it doesn’t take too many for it to exert a lot of leverage.

From Slate • Apr. 1, 2026

But fortunately, the commercial tells us, we workers can exert the same kind of authority over our painkillers that our bosses exert over us.

From "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" by Barbara Ehrenreich