pull at

verb

pulled at; pulling at; pulls at

1

: to hold onto and pull (something) repeatedly

When she gets nervous, she pulls at her ear.

2

: to breathe in the smoke from (a cigarette, pipe, etc.)

He rocked back and forth, pulling at his pipe.

Examples of pull at in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Tax season, savings strategies, and investment planning are all pulling at your attention, and your analytical mind is more than capable of working through the complexity. —Kirah Tabourn, Condé Nast Traveler, 28 Mar. 2026

The deep space image captures a fleeting moment in a titanic struggle that has lasted hundreds of millions of years, as the gravitational influence of the galaxies NGC 4038 and NGC 4039 pulls at one another to create chaos on a truly cosmic scale. —Anthony Wood, Space.com, 28 Mar. 2026

The Revere detective pulled at King from the driver’s side, ripping King’s jersey shirt in the process, as the trooper pushed at him from the passenger side, the report states. —Flint McColgan, Boston Herald, 28 Mar. 2026

Sasha Rosen was pulling at Rivera's arm. —Alice Gainer, CBS News, 12 Mar. 2026

Rhymes for pull at

• begat
• bobcat
• chitchat
• doormat
• ducat
• eclat
• format
• hazmat
• muskrat
• nonfat
• polecat
• thereat