PRIES Synonyms: 74 Similar and Opposite Words

pries 1 of 2

verb (1)

present tense third-person singular of pry

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

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in plucks

to draw out by force or with effort a vain attempt to pry the cork out of a wine bottle

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

pries

2 of 2

verb (2)

present tense third-person singular of pry

as in interferes

to interest oneself in what is not one's concern don't go prying into other people's business

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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 pries

Verb

By fields of cotton and soybeans where his bees forage and pollinate, Foster Hensel pries open the lid of one of his beehives, setting off a rising hum from inside. — Drew Hawkins, NPR, 27 Aug. 2026 Remove the 11 Philips-head screws on the bottom of the laptop, and its bottom pries up with a bit of pressure. — ArsTechnica, 24 Aug. 2026 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

As the motor pulls the tendons, the tail bends into an S-shape, creating the side-to-side motion that quietly moves the whole device forward.

— Maryna Holovnova, New Atlas, 8 Sep. 2026
Each summer, the Premier League’s financial power pulls further and further away from what the rest of Europe’s leagues can muster.

— Conor O'Neill, New York Times, 7 Sep. 2026

Definition of pulls

Verb

His torso and thighs grow eye-poppingly muscular beneath their skimpy fur-and-leather togs—a development that does not go unnoticed by a warrior named Red Hair, who plucks the young hunk from his post and tosses him into the prime time of the gladiator pit.

— Naomi Fry, New Yorker, 15 June 2026
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

Definition of plucks

Verb

But as China’s 2018 detention of two Canadian citizens after Canada arrested a Huawei executive showed, the party readily interferes in the legal system when important interests are at stake.

— Mark Jia, Foreign Affairs, 7 Aug. 2026
Here’s when to watch and how to catch the best views before bright moonlight interferes.

— Julia Gomez, USA Today, 1 July 2026

Definition of interferes

Verb

Its auto-empty dock holds weeks of debris without manual intervention, while intelligent carpet detection automatically lifts the mop pad to keep rugs dry.

— Juhi Wadia, PC Magazine, 8 Sep. 2026
Meta's $18 billion social media settlement lifts a legal overhang that some analysts said could clear the way for a wave of new AI product launches.

— Kai Nicol-Schwarz, CNBC, 4 Sep. 2026

Definition of lifts

Verb

Smart Document Capture extracts financial information from invoices, receipts and other documents directly into Xero.

— Gene Marks, Forbes.com, 30 Aug. 2026
Under a contract with Konza Health, the new system automatically extracts emergency room records covering more than 10,000 diagnostic conditions.

— Mike Stunson, USA Today, 28 July 2026

Definition of extracts

Verb

Adults’s Gen-Z characters tend to see their comforts as transient, their identities as mutable, and seriousness as an annoying obligation, all of which the second season pokes at a bit.

— Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 27 Aug. 2026
Even in the bathrooms, the toilet and bidet are concealed inside a kind of Travertine bench and the showerhead pokes out from a monolithic stone slab.

— Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 4 Aug. 2026

Definition of pokes

Verb

When that doesn’t work, Vicki yanks off her mic and retreats to her bedroom, leaving the others uncertain of what to do next.

— Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 11 Sep. 2026
Johnson yanks veterans' benefits package An effort to advance a package of VA benefits bills this morning on the House floor went down in flames – the latest in Speaker Mike Johnson's struggle to get Republicans on the same page.

— Zachary Schermele, USA Today, 16 July 2026

Definition of yanks

Verb

Ships, like airplanes, are designed with fluid dynamics in mind, and biofoul seriously messes that up.

— David Goldman, CNN Money, 23 June 2026
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

Definition of messes

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“Pries.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pries. Accessed 14 Sep. 2026.

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verb (1)

verb (2)

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