Thesaurus results for JERK AROUND

jerk around

verb

Definition of jerk around

as in to play (on or upon)

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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 jerk around And that’s not even taking into consideration the continual jerking around of Busy Philipps. — Bethy Squires, Vulture, 18 July 2025 He was locked up to be a franchise player, and franchise players aren’t typically jerked around like that. — Grant Brisbee, New York Times, 18 June 2025 The vehicles are tricked out with surround sound, too; and at one point on our joyride the bus was jerked around by the bus driver to simulate the sensation of a subway speeding underfoot. — Patricia Marx, New Yorker, 5 May 2025 The shocking news out of this summer’s Olympic break-dancing competition in Paris wasn’t that a female Australian competitor had hopped and jerked around like Uma Thurman being revived from a drug coma in Pulp Fiction. — Christian Schneider, National Review, 24 Oct. 2024 Jaden Ivey, Detroit Pistons Category: Starter to star After a year where the former lottery pick was jerked around in regard to minutes, role, and even on-court responsibilities, Ivey is now set to enter his third year, finally with some stability attached to his name. — Morten Stig Jensen, Forbes, 17 Sep. 2024 For a population like Gaza’s, there’s not enough food, people have been jerked around from place to place. — Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, 8 May 2024 The guy in the center seat where the stringer was tied off noticed it was being jerked around. — Idaho Statesman, 2 Mar. 2016

Recent Examples of Synonyms for jerk around

Verb

Raving can be traced to the late 1980s, when artists like DJ Pierre and Spanky sparked a bright but short flame of acid house in Chicago clubs, manipulating synthesizers to create squelchy beats dancers could jack their bodies to.

— Kiana Mickles, Pitchfork, 15 July 2026
Today’s elite are going to extraordinary lengths to manipulate their microclimates, from morphing mansions to underground snow rooms.

— Elizabeth Fazzare, Architectural Digest, 15 July 2026

Definition of manipulate

Verb

This article was created by content specialists using various tools, including AI.

— Lauren Jarvis-Gibson July 15, Miami Herald, 16 July 2026
The company says its CoSMo fusion systems are based on the magnetic mirror concept, which uses magnetic fields to confine high-temperature plasma.

— Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 16 July 2026

Definition of use

Verb

Dennis, 32, was sentenced to six years in the Colorado Department of Corrections for the pimping charge, court records show.

— Lauren Penington, Denver Post, 4 June 2026
With a focus on combating prostitution, pimping, pandering, and human trafficking impacting the downtown area, officers with the San Bernardino Police Department served a search warrant on April 29 at the motel.

— Zach Boetto, CBS News, 2 May 2026

Definition of pimp

Verb

For a Japanese company to leverage Ohtani and the Dodgers to introduce itself to an American audience is nothing new — not just for tangible consumer goods, but also for animated characters.

— Bill Shaikin, Los Angeles Times, 13 July 2026
That’s thanks, in large part, to the fact the space company will leverage existing technology to build a more agile launch infrastructure.

— Chris Young July 12, New Atlas, 13 July 2026

Definition of leverage

Verb

After reporting Lopez missing last September, Lopez’s daughter told a detective that Yepez had been mistreating her mother at work, the police report said.

— James Queally, Los Angeles Times, 8 July 2026
By 1790, half of the world's coffee was being grown in the French colony of Saint-Domingue, in what is today Haiti, Pendergrast says, where slaves were routinely mistreated, raped and murdered.

— James Doubek, NPR, 3 July 2026

Definition of mistreat

Verb

OpenAI says its threat reports draw on its view of how actors try to abuse AI models, often in combination with other platforms and tools.

— Ron Schmelzer, Forbes.com, 10 July 2026
Four people represented by the ACLU of Tennessee filed a lawsuit in May accusing the task force of abusing the law to block them from documenting officers’ actions, sometimes ordering them to stay more than 100 feet away from arrest scenes.

— Andy Rose, CNN Money, 10 July 2026

Definition of abuse

Browse Nearby Words

jerk

jerk around

jerked

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“Jerk around.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/jerk%20around. Accessed 17 Jul. 2026.

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Synonyms of jerk around

verb

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