PICKING UP Synonyms: 333 Similar and Opposite Words

picking up

verb

present participle of pick up

as in mastering

to acquire complete knowledge, understanding, or skill in he has a knack for picking up a language in a few weeks

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as in assembling

to bring together in one body or place pick up all of your things because we have to be off this beach before dark

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as in buying

to get possession of (something) by giving money in exchange for could you pick up some milk at the store?

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as in growing (in)

to gradually increase in the boat was just picking up speed when it was rammed by another boat

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as in lifting

to move from a lower to a higher place or position pick up your feet while I vacuum in front of the sofa

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as in arresting

to take or keep under one's control by authority of law police picked up the fugitive when she went out to buy food

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as in cleaning house

to make a place neat and orderly by removing extraneous stuff I thought you said you had picked up, so why are these things still lying around the rec room?

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as in resuming

to begin again or return to after an interruption after the protestors were removed from the auditorium, the speaker picked up his lecture right where he had left off

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as in trimming

to make neat the boy's bedroom looked like it hadn't been picked up in quite a while

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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 picking up Be sure to give your eyes time to adjust and use your phone's camera to scan the sky, as your phone's camera is better at picking up faint auroras than the naked eye. —

Michele Laufik, Martha Stewart, 4 June 2026 Residents, businesses and organizations are also invited to participate in the department’s 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline awareness campaign by picking up a 988 yard sign at the county office at 2170 Point Blvd. —

Mike Danahey, Chicago Tribune, 14 May 2026 Hukporti barely had time to settle in before picking up three fouls in just under four minutes. —

C.j. Holmes, New York Daily News, 7 May 2026 Widespread rainfall totals of an inch to 2 inches are possible through Friday across Southeast Texas, with isolated areas picking up 3 inches or more. —

Newsroom Meteorologist, Houston Chronicle, 7 May 2026 This is the latest example of Netflix picking up a series based on a digital format. —

Joe Otterson, Variety, 30 Apr. 2026 Job cuts are picking up across the tech sector as companies reckon with the AI boom. —

Jonathan Vanian, CNBC, 23 Apr. 2026 Charges say surveillance video from the day care shows the woman picking up a child and falling backward into the wall, also slamming the child's head into the wall. —

Riley Moser, CBS News, 2 Apr. 2026 Swapped is Jordan’s first movie since picking up the Best Actor nomination for Sinners. —

Zac Ntim, Deadline, 2 Apr. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for picking up

Verb

One of them is to raise the proportion of students mastering Math I – usually taken the freshman year of high school but also taken by some middle schoolers and older high school students.

— Rebecca Noel, Charlotte Observer, 10 June 2026
Just under 300,000 years from the moment Homo sapiens appeared in Africa, the species had encircled Earth, mastering desolate deserts and frozen wastelands and all the temperate climes in between.

— Cody Cottier, Scientific American, 4 June 2026