picket

verb

picketed; picketing; pickets

transitive verb

1

: to enclose, fence, or fortify with pickets

2

a

: to guard with a picket

b

: to post as a picket

3

: tether

4

a

: to post pickets at

b

: to walk or stand in front of as a picket

intransitive verb

: to serve as a picket

picketer noun

Examples of picket in a Sentence

Workers picketed outside the grocery store.

The union is picketing the factory.

Recent Examples on the Web

This year, graduate workers who are on strike picketed in Harvard Yard, blaring vuvuzela horns, drums and cowbells whenever an administrator spoke. —Michael Casey, Fortune, 29 May 2026

Long Island Rail Road workers picketed outside Penn Station and others on Long Island on May 17, 2026. —John Dias, CBS News, 17 May 2026

Staffers picketed for weeks outside the union’s headquarters at Fairfax Avenue and 3rd Street. —Gene Maddaus, Variety, 8 May 2026

The labor battle resulted in the cancellation of the in-person WGA West Awards ceremony, and things had gotten ugly between the two parties, with WGA West leadership as recently as late April accusing WGSU members of violence and intimidation amid picketing at the guild’s headquarters. —Brian Welk, IndieWire, 8 May 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1729, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 3

Phrases Containing picket

• counter-picket
• cross the picket line
• picket fence
• picket line

Rhymes for picket

• chicot
• cricket
• picot
• thicket
• ticket
• wicket

Kids Definition

picket

1 of 2 noun

pick·​et ˈpik-ət 

1

: a pointed stake or post (as for a fence)

2

: a soldier or a group of soldiers assigned to stand guard

3

: a person (as a striking worker or a demonstrator) on a picket line

picket

2 of 2 verb

1

: to enclose, fence, or strengthen with pickets

2

a

: to guard with a picket

b

: to station as a picket

3

: tether entry 2

picket a horse

4

a

: to station pickets or act as a picket at

picket a factory

b

: to serve as a picket

picketer noun

Legal Definition

picket

1 of 2 noun

pick·​et

: a person posted by a labor organization at a place of employment affected by a labor dispute

broadly : a person posted for a demonstration or protest

picket

2 of 2 transitive verb

: to post pickets in front of : walk or stand in front of as a picket

their tactics have included picketing clinics

—L. H. Tribe

intransitive verb

: to demonstrate by use of pickets

a currently certified union may picket for recognition

also : to serve as a picket see also informational picketing, organizational picketing, secondary picketing compare strike

Note: While the right to peacefully picket for a lawful purpose is protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, case law has recognized some limitations and the Labor Management Relations Act has placed some restrictions on organizational and secondary picketing.

picketer noun