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pricks 1 of 2

noun

plural of prick
1
as in punctures
a mark or small hole made by a pointed instrument the immunization shot left a prick on my arm that turned into a bruise

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance
2
as in pains
a sharp unpleasant sensation usually felt in some specific part of the body she felt a sharp prick when the nurse gave her the shot

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

pricks

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of prick
as in holes

Related Words

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for pricks
  1. punctures
  2. pains
  3. holes
  4. punches
  5. pangs
  6. prickles
  7. tingles
  8. bores
Noun
  • According to the Mayo Clinic, Pilonidal disease usually occurs when hair punctures and embeds itself in a pocket of skin near the tailbone.
    — Matthew Kayser, USA Today, 6 Aug. 2026
  • To help future researchers, the study also includes a tooth mark guide that describes and identifies several types of punctures, holes, and other marks on fossils that appear to be tooth marks.
    — Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 15 July 2026
Definition of punctures
Noun
  • Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Andy Pages, Rojas and others will still be playing through aches and pains by the time October rolls around.
    — Fabian Ardaya, New York Times, 15 Sep. 2026
  • Court filings haven't specified the nature of the new evidence; the judge and attorneys took pains not to disclose any details during a pretrial hearing on Tuesday.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 15 Sep. 2026
Definition of pains
Verb
  • Upgrade a Laundry Room Vent holes in a laundry room might call to mind a traditional airing cupboard, but perhaps counterintuitively, that term actually refers to a heated cupboard for keeping towels dry rather than one in which air freely circulates.
    — Monika Biegler Eyers, Better Homes & Gardens, 22 June 2026
  • Caulk holes around plumbing and sewer lines where roaches are likely to enter.
    — Arricca Elin SanSone, Southern Living, 4 June 2026
Definition of holes
Noun
  • Two blue and yellow humanoid robots attempted to beat each other up with punches twice as hard as Mike Tyson’s.
    — Matthew Martin, semafor.com, 14 Sep. 2026
  • For Villa, there were mitigating circumstances in this latest defeat by Glasner, yet the worry is they are still being caught with the same punches.
    — Jacob Tanswell, New York Times, 14 Sep. 2026
Definition of punches
Noun
  • Agarwal is, like a lot of teenagers, feeling the pangs of a life less traveled, IRL.
    — Gili Malinsky, CNBC, 15 Sep. 2026
  • Statements by government lawyers that contradict the official White House line are not merely the results of pangs of conscience.
    — David A. Graham, The Atlantic, 28 July 2026
Definition of pangs
Verb
  • An awareness of absent ancestors prickles through her writing, but at the same time, her fictional worlds feel solid and present.
    — Judith Shulevitz, The Atlantic, 17 Feb. 2026
Definition of prickles
Noun
  • Researchers suggested that future studies should include people who actually experience tingles to better understand how ASMR might help with mental health and relaxation.
    — Lucy Notarantonio, MSNBC Newsweek, 10 Nov. 2025
Definition of tingles
Verb
  • As its name suggests, the beetle bores into trees, drilling tunnels to create breeding galleries.
    — Jack Bantock, CNN Money, 13 Aug. 2026
  • The caterpillar bores into the stem through a tiny hole and tunnels inside the plant destroying tissue.
    — Mary Marlowe Leverette, The Spruce, 17 June 2026
Definition of bores
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.

Browse Nearby Words

prickly
pricks
pricks up one's ears
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Cite this Entry

“Pricks.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pricks. Accessed 18 Sep. 2026.

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