pinochle
noun
pi·noch·le
ˈpē-ˌnə-kəl 
: a card game played with a 48-card pack containing two each of A, K, Q, J, 10, 9 in each suit with the object to score points by melding certain combinations of cards or by winning tricks that contain scoring cards
also
: the meld of queen of spades and jack of diamonds scoring 40 points in this game
Examples of pinochle in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The men played lots of cards – pinochle.
—
Terry Pluto, cleveland, 25 Dec. 2022
Bingo returns July 9 (every second and fourth Friday) while every Monday there’s bridge and pinochle, as well as Mexican train dominoes.
—John Benson, cleveland, 1 July 2021
The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out, the worms play pinochle on your snout, to be sure, but which worms?
—Veronique Greenwood, Discover Magazine, 1 Aug. 2012
But there are many things that bring her joy: a tight network of friends, some kept since her days at Howard, others made recently over fiercely competitive rounds of the card game pinochle.
—Daniel Wu, Washington Post, 8 Dec. 2022
The two men, both pinochle players, became close friends.
—Frederick N. Rasmussen, baltimoresun.com, 10 Sep. 2021
There’s bridge, pinochle, go fish, and even solitaire.
—Chris Hachey, BGR, 28 Apr. 2021
There were Helen and Bill, my parents' regular pinochle opponents; Maurice and Thelma, who commuted to college and later taught school with my mother; and Mary, whose husband died before her daughter, my best friend Kathy, was born.
—Debra Hale-Shelton, Arkansas Online, 16 Aug. 2020
The main reason was because my father’s friend Joe worked for Isaac Gellis and, occasionally, on Tuesday nights when my dad and his cronies had their weekly pinochle game, Joe would show up with a free salami for each of them.
—Ronnie Fein, sun-sentinel.com, 13 Nov. 2019
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Terry Pluto, cleveland, 25 Dec. 2022
Bingo returns July 9 (every second and fourth Friday) while every Monday there’s bridge and pinochle, as well as Mexican train dominoes.
—John Benson, cleveland, 1 July 2021
The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out, the worms play pinochle on your snout, to be sure, but which worms?
—Veronique Greenwood, Discover Magazine, 1 Aug. 2012
But there are many things that bring her joy: a tight network of friends, some kept since her days at Howard, others made recently over fiercely competitive rounds of the card game pinochle.
—Daniel Wu, Washington Post, 8 Dec. 2022
The two men, both pinochle players, became close friends.
—Frederick N. Rasmussen, baltimoresun.com, 10 Sep. 2021
There’s bridge, pinochle, go fish, and even solitaire.
—Chris Hachey, BGR, 28 Apr. 2021
There were Helen and Bill, my parents' regular pinochle opponents; Maurice and Thelma, who commuted to college and later taught school with my mother; and Mary, whose husband died before her daughter, my best friend Kathy, was born.
—Debra Hale-Shelton, Arkansas Online, 16 Aug. 2020
The main reason was because my father’s friend Joe worked for Isaac Gellis and, occasionally, on Tuesday nights when my dad and his cronies had their weekly pinochle game, Joe would show up with a free salami for each of them.
—Ronnie Fein, sun-sentinel.com, 13 Nov. 2019
Cite this Entry
“Pinochle.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pinochle. Accessed 13 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
pinochle
noun
pi·noch·le
ˈpē-ˌnək-əl
: a card game played with two cards of each suit with 9 the lowest card
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