as in squeezing
to rob by the use of trickery or threats
the Internet opened up a whole new medium for con artists to pluck the gullible
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Recent Examples of plucking
Each following June, Kvaratskhelia would repeat the ritual, plucking the early growers from the tree.
—
Jacob Whitehead, New York Times, 29 May 2026
The only thing that prevented a shutout was Ross Colton plucking in a rebound off Brent Burns’ sniper off Hart’s chest.
—Troy Renck, Denver Post, 23 May 2026
The Lightning historically have done a tremendous job plucking NHL talent from the middle rounds of the draft.
—Eduardo Encina, The Orlando Sentinel, 16 May 2026
Which is why Hailey Bieber’s bright white, electric G-Wagon is parked just feet away from the office bullpen, where 20-something staffers of the full-service production company are plucking away at their computers.
—Lucy Feldman, Time, 6 May 2026
For some, working with soil evokes nostalgia for childhood summers, smelling thorny roses in bloom and plucking ripe tomatoes off the vine.
—Nicole Kliest, Vogue, 20 Apr. 2026
Brawley hires football coach After a months-long search, Brawley High School has hired a football coach, plucking Rick Stewart away from Calipatria.
—John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune, 9 Apr. 2026
The United States pulled off a daring rescue of two aviators whose fighter jet was shot down by Iran, plucking the pilot from behind enemy lines before setting off a complicated extraction of the second service member who hid deep in the mountains as Tehran called for Iranians to help capture him.
—Seung Min Kim, Fortune, 5 Apr. 2026
Michigan coach Dusty May had made the most of the transfer portal, plucking players out of it in each of his two years to remarkably rebuild a program that lost a school-record 24 games two years ago before firing former Fab Five player Juwan Howard.
—ABC News, 2 Apr. 2026
Jacob Whitehead, New York Times, 29 May 2026
The only thing that prevented a shutout was Ross Colton plucking in a rebound off Brent Burns’ sniper off Hart’s chest.
—Troy Renck, Denver Post, 23 May 2026
The Lightning historically have done a tremendous job plucking NHL talent from the middle rounds of the draft.
—Eduardo Encina, The Orlando Sentinel, 16 May 2026
Which is why Hailey Bieber’s bright white, electric G-Wagon is parked just feet away from the office bullpen, where 20-something staffers of the full-service production company are plucking away at their computers.
—Lucy Feldman, Time, 6 May 2026
For some, working with soil evokes nostalgia for childhood summers, smelling thorny roses in bloom and plucking ripe tomatoes off the vine.
—Nicole Kliest, Vogue, 20 Apr. 2026
Brawley hires football coach After a months-long search, Brawley High School has hired a football coach, plucking Rick Stewart away from Calipatria.
—John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune, 9 Apr. 2026
The United States pulled off a daring rescue of two aviators whose fighter jet was shot down by Iran, plucking the pilot from behind enemy lines before setting off a complicated extraction of the second service member who hid deep in the mountains as Tehran called for Iranians to help capture him.
—Seung Min Kim, Fortune, 5 Apr. 2026
Michigan coach Dusty May had made the most of the transfer portal, plucking players out of it in each of his two years to remarkably rebuild a program that lost a school-record 24 games two years ago before firing former Fab Five player Juwan Howard.
—ABC News, 2 Apr. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for plucking
Verb
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Carting around unhappy campers in 100-degree weather and squeezing work into a shorter window is not exactly being poolside with a marg.—
Abby McCloskey,
Twin Cities,
4 June 2026
-
The defense is disciplined, squeezing pressure from its trio of wings.—
Esfandiar Baraheni,
New York Times,
3 June 2026
Verb
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Fallout from the scandal, compounded by the Labor Party’s stinging local election losses, has tanked Starmer’s poll numbers.—
Jill Lawless,
Los Angeles Times,
1 June 2026
-
Sacramento Stingers California’s capital city has a number of prominent entities represented by flying, stinging insects.—
Camila Pedrosa,
Sacbee.com,
29 May 2026
Verb
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The ball trickled behind second, and Hoerner kept going, hustling his way to second.—
Paul Sullivan,
Chicago Tribune,
9 May 2026
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Over the past few years, Google has been hustling to reinvent its business for the AI age, trying to keep consumers in the habit of going to its search page as chatbots from startups such as OpenAI and Anthropic become more popular.—
Bloomberg,
Mercury News,
29 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Greg de la Garza, Miami The Republican Party of Florida is cheating and getting away with it.—
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board,
Sun Sentinel,
30 May 2026
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In the course of reality TV’s 20-some-odd years golden era, a cheating scandal is almost as certain as a public screaming match in an unsuspecting local restaurant.—
Alexandra Hildreth,
Vogue,
29 May 2026
Verb
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The sun’s connection to Saturn shows that sticking it out was the right call.—
USA TODAY,
USA Today,
2 June 2026
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That's not to say fundamental investors should be ostriches, sticking their heads in the ground and avoiding the big picture and market trends.—
Zev Fima,
CNBC,
1 June 2026
Verb
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Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe beating and banging all the way to the checkers.—
Zach Dean OutKick,
FOXNews.com,
1 June 2026
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Competitor Ross saw comparable sales jump a staggering 17%, beating expectations of 9%, and also attributed some of its outsize growth to extra stimulus.—
Gabrielle Fonrouge,
CNBC,
1 June 2026
Verb
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Put the stopper back in the sink before re-screwing the pivot nut, horizontal rod, and sliding your under sink items back into place.—
Ashlyn Needham,
Southern Living,
8 May 2026
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Finally, the professional will install hangers to reinforce your gutters before screwing the mesh guard on top.—
Faith Wakefield,
USA Today,
4 May 2026
Verb
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Every generation eventually rewrites George Washington, which tells you less about Washington than about the country doing the rewriting.—
Philip Martin,
Arkansas Online,
30 May 2026
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Pritzker has proposed a social media tax projected to bring in about $200 million from large tech companies doing business in Illinois.—
Jeremy Gorner,
Chicago Tribune,
30 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Plucking.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/plucking. Accessed 6 Jun. 2026.
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