pulling

verb

present participle of pull
1
as in hauling
to cause to follow by applying steady force on a team of horses pulling a heavy wagon

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in prying
to draw out by force or with effort the dentist had to struggle to pull the tooth

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in stretching
to injure by overuse, misuse, or pressure lift the crate carefully, or you'll pull a muscle

Synonyms & Similar Words

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 pulling Reggie Tongue had a 7-yard fumble return for a touchdown that resulted in the Chargers pulling quarterback Erik Kramer from the game and replacing him with Jim Harbaugh, who is now the team’s current coach. — Pete Grathoff, Kansas City Star, 30 Oct. 2026 That includes making your bed, folding clothes, even pulling on a sweatshirt, where your nails are at risk of getting caught and pulling. — Maggie Ryan, Flow Space, 30 Oct. 2026 This is a guy who’s finding that thorn and, hopefully, pulling it by the end. — Clayton Davis, Variety, 30 Oct. 2026 Yappy ends up playing the role of matchmaker and new best friend, pulling Billie towards her traveling contractor ex-boyfriend from high school, Hutch (Harding). — Rachel Labonte, Entertainment Weekly, 29 Oct. 2026 Corrigan adds that fewer markdowns and fewer entry-price products suggest Versace is pulling back from discounting and cleaning up its pricing strategy. — Ashley Ogawa Clarke, Vogue, 29 Oct. 2026 Multiple polls show that, like Jolly, Nixon has been pulling more supporters from Florida’s majority party than Republican Senator Ashley Moody has drawn crossover Democrats. — Claire Heddles, Miami Herald, 29 Oct. 2026 The general sense was that pulling Dragon and Falcon 9 off the market would cause temporary upheaval, but these problems would soon be ameliorated by Starship and its promise of lower cost and even greater capability. — Eric Berger, ArsTechnica, 29 Oct. 2026 One of the most fun parts of writing comedy is coming up with alt after alt after alt for a joke, pulling ever-increasingly stupid punch lines out of one’s ass. — Bethy Squires, Vulture, 23 Oct. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pulling
  1. hauling
  2. prying
  3. stretching
  4. dragging
  5. yanking
  6. straining
  7. tugging
  8. extracting
Verb
  • Because few electric trucks are already hauling cargo on the roads, insurance prices are often high.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 29 Oct. 2026
  • About three hours later, Lozano-Garita was seen hauling several large garbage bags out of the building on a wagon.
    — Colin Mixson, New York Daily News, 28 Oct. 2026
Definition of hauling
Verb
  • Or prying mussels off rocks along South Africa’s Cape Peninsula.
    — Rachel Levin, Condé Nast Traveler, 28 Oct. 2026
  • Musk already has this via Larry, a close business associate who bankrolled the Twitter buy, but writing an eleven-figure check has a funny way of prying open the canal further.
    — Steven Zeitchik, HollywoodReporter, 22 Oct. 2026
Definition of prying
Verb
  • Like several other important fossils previously sold at auction, Jodi comes from Hell Creek Formation, a geological boneyard stretching across Montana, Wyoming and the Dakotas.
    — Jacopo Prisco, CNN Money, 27 Oct. 2026
  • He was noticed stretching on the sideline and trying to keep his back loose with trainers, but to no avail.
    — Scott Thompson OutKick, FOXNews.com, 27 Oct. 2026
Definition of stretching
Verb
  • Most damage to the undersea cables that form the Internet’s backbone is the result of accidents involving bottom-trawling fishing nets and ship anchors dragging on the seabed, with storms and undersea landslides also factoring in.
    — Jeremy Hsu, ArsTechnica, 28 Oct. 2026
  • There’s nothing neutral about dragging your feet, and a rigorous investigation of crimes is the only job of the Justice Department.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 26 Oct. 2026
Definition of dragging
Verb
  • Shortly after, the video shows the same officer yanking him to the ground, punching and kicking him.
    — Ruben Vives, Los Angeles Times, 14 Oct. 2026
  • Zabransky was the first person to reach Rabb in the end zone, yanking him into the air for a bear hug.
    — Shaun Goodwin, Idaho Statesman, 3 Oct. 2026
Definition of yanking
Verb
  • The resulting wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran, along with settler violence in the occupied West Bank, have stoked worldwide outrage, straining ties with Israel's closest allies and fueling a rise in antisemitism.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 28 Oct. 2026
  • The resulting wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran, along with settler violence in the occupied West Bank, have stoked worldwide outrage, straining ties with Israel’s closest allies and fueling a rise in antisemitism.
    — Tia Goldenberg, Los Angeles Times, 27 Oct. 2026
Definition of straining
Verb
  • Sitting in a boat, tugging their house behind them, the journey initially appears to be going smoothly.
    — Aramide Tinubu, Variety, 8 Oct. 2026
  • The sweet gallery opens with Rocki tugging at a large wig placed on her head as Rihanna can be heard laughing in the background.
    — Mitchell Peters, Billboard, 27 Sep. 2026
Definition of tugging
Verb
  • However, extracting it from underground brines, hard rock and recycled batteries remains challenging because it is often mixed with sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium.
    — Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 28 Oct. 2026
  • While Evernote sought to combat negative new registrations after its acquisition, Inkdrop’s developer was less concerned about growing its customer base and more interested in extracting additional revenue from current users.
    — Scharon Harding, ArsTechnica, 27 Oct. 2026
Definition of extracting

Browse Nearby Words

pull in
pulling
pulling a face
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Cite this Entry

“Pulling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pulling. Accessed 2 Nov. 2026.

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