yanked; yanking; yanks
: to pull on something with a quick vigorous movement
1
: to pull or extract with a quick vigorous movement
2
: to remove in or as if in an abrupt manner
yanked the story from the evening edition
Examples of yank in a Sentence
Verb
He yanked the door shut.
She yanked on the dog's leash.
Noun (1)
had to give the shoe a good yank to get it off
Recent Examples on the Web
Francesca Chambers, USA Today, 19 June 2025
Footage of a violent outburst aboard a Southwest Airlines flight shows a woman spitting, screaming, and yanking another passenger's hair as shocked travelers look on.
—Darlin Tillery, MSNBC Newsweek, 18 June 2025
Brendan Marks, New York Times, 8 Apr. 2025
Each blade has a pull tab at the top of its cartridge; just give it a gentle yank to remove it.
—Jenny Berg, Vogue, 20 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for yank
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Verb
The administration previously yanked, and then reinstated, visas at an array of universities for more than 4,700 students this spring.
—Francesca Chambers, USA Today, 19 June 2025
Footage of a violent outburst aboard a Southwest Airlines flight shows a woman spitting, screaming, and yanking another passenger's hair as shocked travelers look on.
—Darlin Tillery, MSNBC Newsweek, 18 June 2025
Noun
Four yanks later, voila: Clayton had pulled free his prize, leaving just a single strand of nylon stuck in the Alamodome rim.
—Brendan Marks, New York Times, 8 Apr. 2025
Each blade has a pull tab at the top of its cartridge; just give it a gentle yank to remove it.
—Jenny Berg, Vogue, 20 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for yank
Cite this Entry
“Yank.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/yank. Accessed 3 Jul. 2025.
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