as in to bind
to confine or restrain with or as if with chains
Joan of Arc was pinioned to a stake and burned as a heretic
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of pinion
To be clear, there is no sense that Rondón and Ugás are defending the old guard or suggesting that a docile, starving population pinioned under the grip of a dictatorship is big-picture preferable to a rebellious insurgency.
—
Jessica Kiang, Variety, 31 Oct. 2025
Haas thus theorized that the victim had been pinioned by both heels to the front of the upright beam either with their legs splayed open, frog-like, or with their knees bent and turned to one side.
—Fredrick Kunkle, Anchorage Daily News, 8 Apr. 2023
There is only one substantial object in the show, a set of wooden stocks for pinioning the legs of multiple enslaved people.
—Philip Kennicott, Washington Post, 23 Mar. 2023
See All Example Sentences for pinion
Jessica Kiang, Variety, 31 Oct. 2025
Haas thus theorized that the victim had been pinioned by both heels to the front of the upright beam either with their legs splayed open, frog-like, or with their knees bent and turned to one side.
—Fredrick Kunkle, Anchorage Daily News, 8 Apr. 2023
There is only one substantial object in the show, a set of wooden stocks for pinioning the legs of multiple enslaved people.
—Philip Kennicott, Washington Post, 23 Mar. 2023
See All Example Sentences for pinion
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pinion
Verb
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Simple, pack-a-punch drinks such as Zouzou and Nirvana are bound to tempt anyone with a penchant for unique spirits such as eau de vie (aquavit) and cachaça.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
7 Apr. 2026
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Opinions from the Office of Legal Counsel bind the executive branch, but if a court reaches a different interpretation of a legal question, that determination prevails.—
Jacob Rosen,
CBS News,
7 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Before the game, the Wizards were tied with the Indiana Pacers for the worst team in the league, but by the end of the night the bottom spot was theirs alone.—
Louisa Thomas,
New Yorker,
5 Apr. 2026
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Trailing by three after a disastrous first period, the Sharks got goals from Nick Leddy and Macklin Celebrini in the second period, and a nifty third-period goal from Alex Wennberg to tie the game and bring the capacity crowd at SAP Center to life.—
Curtis Pashelka,
Mercury News,
5 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Many doors had been chained shut or blocked to try to stop trespassers, but that increased the danger for firefighters.—
Tony Aiello,
CBS News,
3 Apr. 2026
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The others would increase it to $20 an hour next year or chain future increase in the minimum wage to an inflation marker.—
Wheeler Cowperthwaite,
The Providence Journal,
26 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Last week, before the court recessed for Easter, John briefly took the stand, legs and hands shackled and dressed in a khaki-colored prison uniform.—
Jacqueline Charles,
Miami Herald,
6 Apr. 2026
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Many of the men were beheaded and women captured; Umar ibn Sa’d marched the spiked heads and shackled women through various towns on the way back to Caliph Yazid in Damascus to deter further protest.—
Mary Thurlkill,
The Conversation,
30 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Suarez lashed seven shots towards goal on his debut against Casa Pia, going closest after a stomping run in-behind the defence and a sharp shot into the side netting.—
Thom Harris,
New York Times,
7 Apr. 2026
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Spencer Pratt lashed out at the Los Angeles Times and a rival mayoral candidate, accusing a reporter of harassing his family and trying to expose where his children live as his campaign gains traction in the polls.—
Lauryn Overhultz,
FOXNews.com,
7 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Yet this season he was fettered by scratches of both the injured and healthy variety.—
Andrew Knoll,
Daily News,
5 Mar. 2026
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This comes in the wake of millions of apps being dumped from Play Store for not being good enough and an expansion of Google’s Play Integrity API to fetter app behaviors on phones no longer eligible for security updates — Android 12 or older.—
Zak Doffman,
Forbes.com,
26 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Pinion.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pinion. Accessed 8 Apr. 2026.
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