pin down
verb
pinned down; pinning down; pins down
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
Determined to pin down PKMζ’s role once and for all, Sacktor and Fenton set out to design a way to disrupt it more precisely than ever before.
—
Ajdina Halilovic, Wired News, 6 July 2025
Marta Paterlini, a neuroscientist at the institute, and her colleagues, set out to pin down how those neurons came to be.
—Nora Bradford, Scientific American, 3 July 2025
Hounsell cautioned that the exact date is impossible to pin down.
—John Tufts, IndyStar, 2 July 2025
For that reason and others, experts say pinning down a specific nuclear timeline is complicated.
—Miriam Waldvogel, The Hill, 18 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for pin down
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Ajdina Halilovic, Wired News, 6 July 2025
Marta Paterlini, a neuroscientist at the institute, and her colleagues, set out to pin down how those neurons came to be.
—Nora Bradford, Scientific American, 3 July 2025
Hounsell cautioned that the exact date is impossible to pin down.
—John Tufts, IndyStar, 2 July 2025
For that reason and others, experts say pinning down a specific nuclear timeline is complicated.
—Miriam Waldvogel, The Hill, 18 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for pin down
Cite this Entry
“Pin down.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pin%20down. Accessed 14 Jul. 2025.
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