as in to pick at
to subject (someone) to constant scoldings and sharp reminders
kept pecking at their prodigal daughter to get off the couch and to start looking for a job
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for peck (at)
Verb
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The show pushes back at the gloomy narrative that has dogged San Francisco for the past five or ten years.—
Winston Ross,
Forbes.com,
30 May 2026 -
No bins or baskets, just raw-dogging it up there (for lack of a better phrase).—
Tessa Petak,
InStyle,
30 May 2026
Verb
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By contrast, Trump is being needled almost weekly by Tillis and other GOP senators whose chattiness with the press has drawn the ire of the president.—
David Sivak,
The Washington Examiner,
31 May 2026
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The Velvet Gang needles the outraged Christie ever so.—
Randy Myers,
Mercury News,
19 May 2026
Verb
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What made Grande stick out back then was a limber voice that begged to be dressed in sounds that swing.—
Craig Jenkins,
Vulture,
29 May 2026
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In a story this complicated, where everyone from a little girl to a grown man from Boston is begging for their humanity, even Howard Stevens deserves some, too.—
Lyz Lenz,
Rolling Stone,
28 May 2026
Verb
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Schloesser, who has worked at Amazon for nearly six years, urged Seattle officials to require data center developers to commit to using renewable energy to power facilities and no longer use non-disclosure agreements or shell companies when announcing new projects.—
Annie Palmer,
CNBC,
4 June 2026
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On Wednesday, Rollins urged pet owners to keep a close watch for signs of discomfort, open wounds or larvae or eggs near body openings.—
Jen Christensen,
CNN Money,
4 June 2026
Verb
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That process, too, has nagged at her confidence and her resolve.—
Matthew Futterman,
New York Times,
26 May 2026
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The Minnesota Wild players are not playing hockey right now and still have a what-if nagging at them about injuries.—
Corey Masisak,
Denver Post,
25 May 2026
Verb
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This was a club that embraced African players before much of Europe bothered to scout the continent seriously.—
Zohran Mamdani,
New York Times,
29 May 2026
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In my dream world where Emmys voters bother to watch Bait, Khan is a shoo-in.—
Joe Reid,
Vulture,
29 May 2026
Verb
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And so, hounded by creditors and distressed by mounting debts, the remaining family had to leave their formerly genteel surroundings for the gritty, unsentimental shadows of the Yoshiwara.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
28 May 2026
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Waterhouse and Pattinson have chosen not to share their daughter’s name or face publicly but are hounded by paparazzi trying to capture them.—
Ellise Shafer,
Variety,
28 May 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Peck (at).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/peck%20%28at%29. Accessed 8 Jun. 2026.
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