Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
to push for a raise

to push for a raise

3.5
To ask firmly for more pay from your boss
  • phrasal verb
  • US
translation icon : pedir un aumento
  • Feeling undervalued, he felt it was time to push for a raise to reflect his contributions to the company.

Examples

  • After months of hard work, she bravely decided to push for a raise during her annual review.

  • I pushed for a raise and promotion, but didn't push hard enough and got strung along for way too long.

    Blog text (16)

  • She pushed for a raise at work and began to dress like the people they had seen in the Abbey garden.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • In the meeting, the team encouraged their manager to push for a raise for all employees to improve morale.

Synonyms

to press
vsto push for a raise
285 3.9

Ask someone firmly and repeatedly to do something

advocates specifically for increasing salary or wages

How Assertive

to walk out
11 4.1
to push for a raise
  • US
3.5
to hint
136 2.0

Surface Forms

push for a raise infinitive
pushed for a raise past
pushed for a raise past participle
pushing for a raise present participle
pushes for a raise third person singular

Morphology

push + for + a + raise

The meaning 'to advocate or actively seek an increase in salary' is directly derivable from combining 'push' (to exert pressure or try to achieve) with the prepositional target 'for' and 'raise' (a pay increase). The pattern 'push for X' is a transparent, compositional English construction and is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words would most likely understand this phrase.

Etymology

Push for a raise uses a simple physical image: to push is to force something forward, so a worker 'pushes' their boss by asking and showing their good work until they win a raise. So, it means 'to try hard to get more pay'.