1
as in pulls
to raise, move, or pull apart with or as if with a lever
it took some effort to pry up the trap door
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in plucks
to draw out by force or with effort
a vain attempt to pry the cork out of a wine bottle
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in interferes
to interest oneself in what is not one's concern
don't go prying into other people's business
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of pries
Dewayne Bevil, The Orlando Sentinel, 24 Feb. 2026
The show’s biggest laugh may come when Testa pries open Costanzo’s mouth and pronounces just how many performances of Norma Galas has left.
—Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 19 Sep. 2025
Could this be the year Johannesburg pries visitors away from Cape Town with a cool new city hotel and a dynamic dining scene, or when sunseekers take another look at Mauritius instead of the Maldives?
—Cnt Editors, Condé Nast Traveler, 15 Nov. 2023
Verb
There are swooping close encounters with heavenly bodies, Lego blocks in antigravity mode and swarms of Separators, a sort of astro-anthropomorphic version of the tool that pries apart Lego bricks in real life.
—Dewayne Bevil, The Orlando Sentinel, 24 Feb. 2026
The show’s biggest laugh may come when Testa pries open Costanzo’s mouth and pronounces just how many performances of Norma Galas has left.
—Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 19 Sep. 2025
Could this be the year Johannesburg pries visitors away from Cape Town with a cool new city hotel and a dynamic dining scene, or when sunseekers take another look at Mauritius instead of the Maldives?
—Cnt Editors, Condé Nast Traveler, 15 Nov. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pries
Verb
-
The pillow is filled with shredded memory foam gel that pulls heat away from your head, neck, and shoulders to prevent overheating.—
Sian Babish,
PEOPLE,
29 May 2026
-
Google search pulls from the same information as Google News, even though the two sites are technically separate.—
Michael Muchmore,
PC Magazine,
28 May 2026
Verb
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But the emotional gravity of this offering's deeply personal, melancholic lyrical content plucks an undeniably profound chord that uniquely separates it from the rest of his work.—
Chris Barilla,
PEOPLE,
29 May 2026
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The multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter, who rocks an early era Maxwell ‘fro, plays drums, plucks bass, and sings about the ups and downs of love and consumerism on his new album, LK99.—
Elise Brisco,
Rolling Stone,
22 May 2026
Verb
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This act interferes greatly with local departments of planning and development for erroneous climate protocols enacted by Ronald Regan.—
Kaitlyn Schallhorn,
Oc Register,
4 May 2026
-
This is where Earth’s atmosphere interferes least.—
Jamie Carter,
Space.com,
28 Apr. 2026
Verb
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The rescue echoes a famous scene in episode two of The Mandalorian when Grogu lifts a rampaging Mudhorn to save Djarin, which was already a homage to Yoda levitating the ship on Dagobah during the original trilogy.—
Dani Di Placido,
Forbes.com,
25 May 2026
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The breath hold is believed to further raise vagal tone, which brings down stress hormones and lifts heart rate variability.—
Allison Palmer,
Miami Herald,
23 May 2026
Verb
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So workers are taking extra care to smooth those out and make sure they have not been damaged by the machine that extracts them.—
Kaitlyn Schallhorn,
Oc Register,
28 May 2026
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During slow-wave sleep, a leader's brain consolidates the day's information, extracts patterns from the complexities encountered, and builds connections between seemingly unrelated ideas.—
Julian Hayes II,
Forbes.com,
27 May 2026
Verb
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander apparently isn’t amused by a new board game that pokes fun at the Oklahoma City Thunder star’s reputation for garnering foul calls at the hint of contact by an opposing player.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
29 May 2026
-
Kym is the family fuckup and a guilty party to its biggest tragedy but also constantly pokes the bear as its selfish verbal assassin.—
Chris Feil,
Vulture,
1 May 2026
Verb
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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
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Maden takes thee wine bottle from him and the officers reach for his wrists but Brown resists and yanks his arms back, the video shows.—
Rocco Parascandola,
New York Daily News,
19 Apr. 2026
Verb
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From pet hair to crumbs, this Shark handheld cordless vacuum cleaner can tackle messes large and small, thanks to strong suction and a self-cleaning brush that resists pet hair accumulation.—
BestReviews,
Chicago Tribune,
27 May 2026
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Like that series, this movie messes with your mind by taking full advantage of creepy backroom spaces.—
Randy Myers,
Mercury News,
23 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Pries.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pries. Accessed 5 Jun. 2026.
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