HOCKS Synonyms: 59 Similar and Opposite Words

hocks 1 of 2

noun

plural of hock

as in penitentiaries

a place of confinement for persons held in lawful custody some lowlife who had been in and out of hock most of his adult life

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

outsides

hocks

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of hock

as in pawns

to leave as a guarantee of repayment of a loan the prince had to hock the family jewels to pay his gambling debts

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Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of hocks

Noun

The simple combo of navy beans, smoked ham hocks, onion, and butter is still the best way to start a meal here. — Tara Massouleh McCay, Southern Living, 5 Oct. 2026

Verb

So too are editor Pauline Gaillard’s sharp cuts, which are often timed exactly to coincide with the moment that someone lost in faraway thought finishes swirling their mouthful of Pinot Noir and hocks it unceremoniously into a nearby receptacle. — Jessica Kiang, Variety, 11 Sep. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for hocks

Noun

Mexico has 276 prisons, including 14 federal penitentiaries and 249 state prisons.

— ABC News, ABC News, 8 Oct. 2026
Hodge says he was abused in multiple federal penitentiaries, but was frequently blocked from filing complaints about it.

— Christie Thompson, NPR, 13 July 2026

Definition of penitentiaries

Verb

There’s no shortage of hotels to choose from, but guests of the Table Bay have prime access, thanks to an elevator in the lobby that deposits them right by Woolworth’s.

— Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 19 Oct. 2026
LendingPoint approves loans for as little as $1,000, and typically deposits funds as soon as the next business day after signing.

— Dan Avery, CNBC, 25 Sep. 2026

Definition of deposits

Noun

The $1 million would come from the same pool of mostly property-tax dollars that fund police, jails, parks and transit.

— Douglas Hanks, Miami Herald, 20 Oct. 2026
And the administration persuaded more and more local police and jails to carry out the president’s mass deportation campaign, sweeping still more immigrants into custody.

— Melissa Sanchez, ProPublica, 14 Oct. 2026

Definition of jails

Verb

So my guess/belief/thought is that the executive trio is hoping for the best this year, but is unwilling to do anything that mortgages future seasons.

— Josh Kendall, New York Times, 9 July 2026
Those are the players in recent memory who’ve commanded the kind of draft capital that reshapes franchises — the sort of seismic move that mortgages a future and, in return, attaches expectations normally reserved for franchise-carrying superstars.

— Kristian Winfield, Hartford Courant, 22 Feb. 2026

Definition of mortgages

Noun

Fewer than half of the 170,000 inmates released from California prisons between 2015 and 2019 found jobs, and many of those jobs were temporary, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.

— Cathie Anderson, Sacbee.com, 18 Oct. 2026
For several years, people in custody, advocates and local media have sounded the alarm about the dangers posed by extreme temperatures in Pennsylvania’s state prisons.

— Jaquelyn Jahn, The Conversation, 16 Oct. 2026

Definition of prisons

Noun

But Safdie kept adding more films, and then still more, in block letters using pens of different colors.

— Bruce Handy, New Yorker, 19 Oct. 2026
Best known for stationery, pens and diary books and, more recently, leather goods and accessories, Smythson returned to Madison Avenue with a shop in early October after a three-year absence.

— David Moin, Footwear News, 19 Oct. 2026

Definition of pens

Noun

Issues documented included chemical burns and hydraulic fluid that leaked from a ride into someone’s eye, dislocated joints, concussions and broken bones.

— Blake Ellis, CNN Money, 15 Oct. 2026
Poems are distillations into presence wherein now exists in blood flowing through veins, in muscles contracting and releasing, in joints flexing and extending, in this inhale, in this foot strike against the pavement, in this sigh.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 15 Oct. 2026

Definition of joints

Browse Nearby Words

hocking

hocks

hocus-pocus

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“Hocks.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hocks. Accessed 21 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of hocks

noun

verb

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