JERKS Synonyms: 202 Similar and Opposite Words

jerks 1 of 2

noun

plural of jerk

as in bastards

a person whose behavior is offensive to others his constant rudeness and insensitivity made everyone think he was a real jerk

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in tugs

the act or an instance of applying force on something so that it moves in the direction of the force guided the rowboat with a jerk of the rope

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

jerks

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of jerk

as in yanks

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

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as in twitches

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

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as in shakes

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

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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 jerks

Noun

That screwed up the works / And not due to his sloppy hiring / Of a crew of incompetent jerks. — Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 6 Aug. 2026 Something from this article might put me on some Ben Shapiro list, where a bunch of jerks literally will just call me ‘f****t’ or worse on my social media. — William Earl, Variety, 10 June 2026 To relitigate the matter on behalf of Musk only served to underline the conviction that all of these jerks deserved one another. — Gideon Lewis-Kraus, New Yorker, 20 May 2026 Here, witches are real — and so are jerks. — Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 30 Apr. 2026 This was just the beginning of us young anarchists becoming judgmental jerks. — Joseph Hudak, Rolling Stone, 7 Apr. 2026 In the new sequel, Grace teams with her estranged younger sister, Faith (Kathryn Newton), as they’re hunted by four elite families full of murderous jerks scrambling to become the High Seat of a Council that controls the world. — Brian Truitt, USA Today, 21 Mar. 2026 Smarmy jerks can get obscenely wealthy in this country just by managing other people’s money. — Gilad Edelman, The Atlantic, 7 Feb. 2026 Moreover, where most clients are great, some are jerks. — Kathy Kristof, San Diego Union-Tribune, 12 Jan. 2026

Verb

In a viral video of the aftermath, the robot jerks back and forth to shake the glass off, showering yet more dangerous shards onto the sidewalk. — Frank Landymore, Futurism, 26 Mar. 2026 Ross’s video does not show if the SUV made contact with him, as the camera angle jerks up to the sky. — Danya Gainor, CNN Money, 12 Jan. 2026 The video suddenly jerks away as the vehicle starts to move and shots can be heard. — Nicole Sganga, CBS News, 9 Jan. 2026 The boy jerks his head as if to wake himself, turns around abruptly and looks the other way, even though there’s nothing special to see besides darkness and emptiness, which is where a living eye should never look. — Literary Hub, 10 Nov. 2025 Paul goes to shake her hand but jerks it back, then gives her a left-handed handshake. — Brian Moylan, Vulture, 17 Oct. 2025

Recent Examples of Synonyms for jerks

Noun

One morning during my stay, there were even clowns buzzing about—a thrill to receive a balloon poodle alongside my morning flat white.

— Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 29 July 2026
Perhaps most astonishingly, the movie manages to make creepy clowns — that shopworn trope — genuinely frightening again.

— Declan Gallagher, Entertainment Weekly, 7 July 2026

Definition of clowns

Noun

The European Investment Bank (EIB) estimates that roughly 200 wrecks, including warships, barges, tugs, and cargo vessels, remain scattered across a five-kilometer stretch of the river near Prahovo.

— Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 4 Aug. 2026
Momentus’ spacecraft can also serve as space tugs to ferry smaller satellites or experiments from one orbit to another.

— Stephen Clark, ArsTechnica, 9 July 2026

Definition of tugs

Verb

Johnson yanks veterans' benefits package An effort to advance a package of VA benefits bills this morning on the House floor went down in flames – the latest in Speaker Mike Johnson's struggle to get Republicans on the same page.

— Zachary Schermele, USA Today, 16 July 2026
Like a false note on an out-of-tune piano, a clunky verb, a sentence without rhythm, yanks the reader out the flow of the work.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 19 May 2026

Definition of yanks

Verb

Mike Krukow shakes hands with Jackson Flora, the San Francisco Giants 1st pick of the 2026 MLB Draft, as Duane Kuiper observes at Oracle Park on July 29, 2026 in San Francisco, California.

— Carlos E. Castañeda, CBS News, 6 Aug. 2026
The team will want to have about $1 million for the deadline, but if an expensive player shakes loose in the next two months, Edmonton is in a good position to make a move.

— Allan Mitchell, New York Times, 4 Aug. 2026

Definition of shakes

Noun

The dogs played such a significant role in the King and Camilla’s lives that the latter had a sketch of her dogs embroidered on her coronation dress along with the names of her children and grandchildren.

— Audrey Schmidt, PEOPLE, 9 Aug. 2026
Why would a langur stroke a squirrel, or macaques groom stray dogs?

— Cyril Grueter, Scientific American, 8 Aug. 2026

Definition of dogs

Verb

The film unhurriedly lurches from one markedly similar fight scene to the next, with only Skeletor’s occasional injections of ripe innuendo to liven them up a bit.

— Guy Lodge, Variety, 2 June 2026
By the end, Noonan’s film stops feeling like a first date and starts to resemble the makings of a crime scene as his mood lurches toward something dangerous.

— Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 1 May 2026