JERKED Synonyms: 82 Similar and Opposite Words

jerked

verb

past tense of jerk

as in yanked

to move or cause to move with a sharp quick motion I jerked to one side to avoid getting hit jerked the leash to get the dog's attention

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

as in twitched

to make jerky or restless movements you've got to quit jerking, or the barber will nick you by accident

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in shook

to make a series of small irregular or violent movements the car jerked with every shift of the gear

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

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 jerked During the test, Linton jerked and twitched in what prosecutors described as an attempt to fake a seizure. — James Queally, Los Angeles Times, 2 Oct. 2026 Somewhere nearby, in a dark office, an eavesdropping oreja has just jerked to attention on his hard little chair. — Literary Hub, 3 Sep. 2026 Once the squid gather near the surface, lines fitted with bait are lowered into the water and rapidly jerked up and down to imitate small prey such as shrimp, triggering strikes before the catch is reeled aboard. — Bojan Stojkovski, Interesting Engineering, 20 June 2026 Suddenly, the tent jerked and wobbled. — Dolores Brown, Outdoor Life, 17 June 2026 In the summer of 2020, former Morgan Stanley trader Adam Crawley was wandering through Indonesia, Thailand and Australia, perfecting his qigong with a man called Master YanG, when a cold message on LinkedIn jerked him back to reality. — Phoebe Liu, Forbes.com, 26 May 2026 My empty paper bowl jerked along the belt, stopping under each funnel. — Billy Perrigo, Time, 8 May 2026 The plane jerked to a stop as two trucks passed just feet in front of its nose. — Alexandra Skores, CNN Money, 16 Apr. 2026 We are jerked between past and present as his backstory gets filled in, one jogged memory at a time. — Justin Chang, New Yorker, 13 Mar. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for jerked

Verb

The district secured $150 million in federal funding to fix the issue, but it was yanked back as part of cost-cutting efforts in 2025, then recently re-instated this year.

— Alex Harris, Miami Herald, 27 Oct. 2026
With the wheels threatening to come off, Rays manager Kevin Cash yanked Seymour and put in Kevin Kelly.

— Kyle Feldscher, CNN Money, 20 Oct. 2026

Definition of yanked

Verb

Surveillance footage released by police showed Andreatta reaching for Pagano’s wrist, arm and shoulder before the two shook hands.

— Nicole Buss, Sacbee.com, 4 Nov. 2026
Steve Witkoff called Vladimir Putin a humanitarian, which had a lot of people shook because, famously, Vladimir Putin also started this war.

— Kelli Wessinger, Vox, 31 Oct. 2026

Definition of shook

Verb

The insurrection drew immediate and obvious parallels to the United States, which, during much of the past decade, has lurched alongside Brazil through a strange hall of mirrors.

— Ishaan Tharoor, New Yorker, 21 Oct. 2026
And there was a frenzy as one man, grimacing and sweating, lurched along pulling a truck with a rope.

— ABC News, ABC News, 16 Oct. 2026

Definition of lurched

Verb

Butler said there seemed to be no warning before the man was tossed into nearby bushes.

— Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 30 Oct. 2026
Cranes helped shift the carriages as police and soldiers helped pick through the wreckage strewn down the gravel slope where at least three train carriages were tossed by the impact.

— ABC News, ABC News, 29 Oct. 2026

Definition of tossed

Verb

Curhan on Tuesday was asked about his favorite block from that day — that 19-16 win over the Packers that is setting up to feel eerily similar to the one on Thursday night — and shuddered a smile.

— Alex Zietlow, Charlotte Observer, 27 Oct. 2026
Conservatives shuddered to think how close the country had come to permanent entangling alliances.

— Beverly Gage, New Yorker, 28 Sep. 2026

Definition of shuddered

Verb

Ivan Fedorov, co-chair of the regional defense council, said 12 bodies pulled from the rubble had been identified so far.

— Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 5 Nov. 2026
Someone got out of the front passenger seat of the car, walked around the back of the vehicle, pulled a gun out of the pocket of his hoodie, and fired four shots into the front driver's side window.

— Todd Feurer, CBS News, 4 Nov. 2026