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 In addition to pulling TikTok ads in the US, the policy will also restrict them in Canada, Egypt, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, and Vietnam. — Emma Roth, The Verge, 9 Oct. 2026 Cyclovia is about people who have turned a simple machine into a way of surviving, celebrating and dreaming, and John’s whole body of work is about pulling Latin stories out of the margins and into the centre of the culture. — Damon Wise, Deadline, 9 Oct. 2026 European benchmark natural gas prices neared their recent high from mid-September earlier on Thursday before pulling back. — Hanna Ziady, CNN Money, 8 Oct. 2026 During the struggle which continues for several minutes, each of the police officers is seen repeatedly punching and kicking Gibson, kneeling on his head, and pulling his hair. — Senior Editor, CBS News, 8 Oct. 2026 Foundry, Palantir’s platform for pulling a company’s data into one place and controlling who can see it, is now at the center of its fastest-growing business. — Joshua Hong, Fortune, 8 Oct. 2026 Yet pulling back on bigger expenses hasn’t meant cutting every enjoyable purchase. — Ashley Lynch, Sacbee.com, 7 Oct. 2026 There’s also an NQ4 AI Gen3 processor, Dolby Atmos, and Motion Xcelerator up to 164Hz for gamers who want their TV pulling double duty. — Juhi Wadia, PC Magazine, 6 Oct. 2026 The Senate Leadership Fund’s pulling money from North Carolina is the latest signal the Republican Party is giving up hope of holding that Senate seat. — Natalie Allison, Washington Post, 2 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
  • While the university grappled with yet another football scandal, an Ann Arbor moving crew simply got to work—sorting, packing and hauling away the remnants of a fallen career, one item at a time, over the span of six hours.
    — Daniel Libit, Sportico.com, 8 Oct. 2026
  • The sides can be unzipped and folded flat to convert the wagon into a cart for hauling oversized items or a senior dog.
    — Thomas Ricker, The Verge, 6 Oct. 2026
Definition of hauling
Verb
  • Or two birds face-to-face in close proximity, covering themselves with their wings as if to share a secret kiss away from prying eyes, could evoke a giggle.
    — Amarachi Orie, CNN Money, 6 Oct. 2026
  • Davidson was thrust into a reality-TV world of prying paparazzi and untold media scrutiny.
    — Marlow Stern, Variety, 30 Sep. 2026
Definition of prying
Verb
  • Tyler is having a little fun stretching his ad-libs like TisaKorean.
    — Alphonse Pierre, Pitchfork, 7 Oct. 2026
  • At the gym the specialist personal training team is led by Justin Pimm, a former county-level cricketer and tennis player who can give expert advice on stretching, endurance, and muscle-building, using their Technogym equipment.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 6 Oct. 2026
Definition of stretching
Verb
  • But an owners representative claims that part of the problem was Erica and Peter dragging their feet on providing backup documents for their application package.
    — Matthew Sedacca, Curbed, 8 Oct. 2026
  • Another video shows two men beating and dragging a man into a car.
    — Milena Malaver, Miami Herald, 6 Oct. 2026
Definition of dragging
Verb
  • 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
  • There’s also an ending that revels in a form of catharsis — for the audience watching the play, not the movie — before yanking that, too, away.
    — David Mack, CNN Money, 3 Oct. 2026
Definition of yanking
Verb
  • Some medicines have more than tripled in price, further straining Iranians' finances seven months into the country's war with the United States and Israel.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 1 Oct. 2026
  • The war in Iran has challenged Gulf energy infrastructure, straining exports from key producers and pushing Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar to try and find alternate ways to export their crude and LNG.
    — Emma Graham, CNBC, 30 Sep. 2026
Definition of straining
Verb
  • 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
  • WashWise recommends holding the spray 8 to 12 inches away, applying a light mist and smoothing or gently tugging the fabric to release wrinkles.
    — Ryan Brennan, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 15 Sep. 2026
Definition of tugging
Verb
  • The Falcon-Emirati model and related tools for speech recognition and extracting Arabic text from images and documents are relatively compact.
    — Mohammed Sergie, semafor.com, 8 Oct. 2026
  • Over the past quarter century, foreign direct investment across sub-Saharan Africa has remained relatively flat—around two to three percent as a share of GDP—and most of it has gone to extracting oil, diamonds, and gold and other minerals.
    — Jared Cohen, Foreign Affairs, 7 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 12 Oct. 2026.

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