pull away

verb

pulled away; pulling away; pulls away

intransitive verb

1
: to draw oneself back or away : withdraw
2
: to move off or ahead

Examples of pull away in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web After looking at the girl for a few moments, the orca pulls away to swim up to the surface of the pool, taking a deep breath before letting some air out from its blowhole. Charlotte Phillipp, Peoplemag, 10 Mar. 2024 China is pulling away in the global carmaking race, beating Japan last year to become the world’s biggest exporter of automobiles. Susan Howson, Quartz, 3 Mar. 2024 Beat on low until mixture begins to pull away from sides, adding more flour if needed. Rita Nader Heikenfeld, The Enquirer, 17 Feb. 2024 Confidence: Medium-High Sunshine dominates Monday and the cold air starts to pull away, allowing highs to climb to the upper 40s to lower 50s. David Streit, Washington Post, 15 Feb. 2024 That timeline directly contradicts the eyewitness accounts, which suggested that the Israeli military opened fire on people near the trucks, causing drivers to pull away in panic. Rob Picheta, CNN, 1 Mar. 2024 Searching for more meaning in his work, Sanada pulled away from action and towards a more versatile oeuvre — surprising many of his Japanese fans. Geoffrey Bunting, Rolling Stone, 29 Feb. 2024 Starting with those six unanswered points, the Heat closed the game on an 11-2 run to pull away. Anthony Chiang, Miami Herald, 27 Feb. 2024 The Warriors pulled away after the break, limiting Christopher to 13 second-half points. Nathan Canilao, The Mercury News, 25 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'pull away.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1934, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of pull away was circa 1934

Dictionary Entries Near pull away

Cite this Entry

“Pull away.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pull%20away. Accessed 29 Mar. 2024.

More from Merriam-Webster on pull away

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