pin down

verb

pinned down; pinning down; pins down

transitive verb

1

: to cause or force (someone) to make a definite statement or decision about something

Reporters tried to pin him down on the specific changes he wants to make to the tax laws.

2

: to find out (something) with certainty

Can you pin down when the change occurred?

I'm trying to pin the source of the problem down.

Examples of pin down in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Even as Weiss has made a name for herself in part by lambasting progressive culture, her own political views have been somewhat hard to pin down. —Rachel Treisman, NPR, 6 Oct. 2025

Our eyes are blindfolded, our heads pinned down. —Eli Sharabi, Time, 1 Oct. 2025

Precise numbers of staffing cuts are hard to pin down, but their historic scale in the first eight months of this administration is unmistakable. —Chris Sellers, The Conversation, 29 Sep. 2025

For me, the camera has a unique power in guiding me toward visualising complex, sometimes uncomfortable emotions that resist being pinned down by language. —Caterina De Biasio, Vogue, 24 Sep. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1765, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for pin down

• adown
• blowdown
• breakdown
• countdown
• crackdown
• crosstown
• downtown
• drawdown
• dropdown
• facedown
• godown
• hometown