as in to play (on or upon)
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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
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
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Because there’s no route concept here, no trying to manipulate a defense with a quarterback’s eyes, or with misdirection, or by flooding a zone.—
David Aldridge,
New York Times,
12 Oct. 2025
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There’s been no improvement in their real economy despite a stock market that seems manipulated higher, a la 2016.—
Jim Cramer,
CNBC,
12 Oct. 2025
Verb
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The team used human stem cells to create three-dimensional, embryo-like structures that replicate early human development, including the formation of blood stem cells.—
Neetika Walter,
Interesting Engineering,
14 Oct. 2025
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This watch guide was created using technology provided by Data Skrive.—
Data Skrive,
New York Times,
14 Oct. 2025
Verb
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First there’s the obvious: Suga Free’s flows, cascading like water over desert rock in the Inland Empire; the cartoon anecdotes from a life spent pimping in Pomona; the most varied and virtuosic group of DJ Quik beats ever assembled.—
Pitchfork,
Pitchfork,
30 Sep. 2025
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That deal dropped three charges of human trafficking and five additional counts of pimping from his case.—
Lauren Penington,
Denver Post,
29 Sep. 2025
Verb
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For leagues, the ability to leverage Reddit’s reputation to appear more frequently in search results or chatbot readouts should be seen as a nice bonus, Rosen said, rather than the main driver behind their on-platform strategy.—
Jacob Feldman,
Sportico.com,
15 Oct. 2025
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The hope for gold-producing nations like Ghana is to responsibly leverage this bountiful natural resource without falling prey to environmental degradation and civil strife.—
Charlie Campbell,
Time,
15 Oct. 2025
Verb
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In prison, she was often severely mistreated.—
Michael Collins,
USA Today,
14 Oct. 2025
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One said no one mistreated him.—
Eva Roytburg,
Fortune,
11 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Why this threat matters The Deep Research agent was designed to perform multistep research and summarize online data, but its wide access to third-party apps like Gmail, Google Drive and Dropbox also opened the door to abuse.—
Kurt Knutsson,
FOXNews.com,
18 Oct. 2025
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He was hit with a massive $50,000 fine for verbally abusing officials back in 2023, and he was slapped with a $14,000 fine for a violent gesture during a game against the Buffalo Bills last season.—
Michael Gallagher,
MSNBC Newsweek,
18 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Jerk around.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/jerk%20around. Accessed 20 Oct. 2025.
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