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 Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni, a former right back who played alongside Messi in the 2006 World Cup, solved that problem by moving Messi to right wing, tweaking formations and pulling from a bench superior to England’s. — Tom Krasovic, San Diego Union-Tribune, 19 July 2026 By July 11, Taco Bell had begun pulling some ingredients, including lettuce and cilantro, from some Michigan restaurants. — Mike Snider, USA Today, 19 July 2026 The sisters’ collective upper limb development also suggests high-intensity, repetitive actions like holding a heavy weapon or pulling a bowstring. — Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 17 July 2026 Cooling towers, used for refrigeration and general building cooling, expel building heat into the atmosphere by pulling outside air through warm water from a central chiller that gets sprayed over a fill material. — Jen Christensen, CNN Money, 17 July 2026 The halo wheels enable scrolling, pushing, pulling, and tilting, designed to keep drivers' eyes on the road. — Greg Migliore, Forbes.com, 17 July 2026 Haaland’s winning goal came after another bout of yanking and pulling; the striker tried to free himself by slapping the defender’s arm away, eventually just carrying on regardless. — Jack Lang, New York Times, 5 July 2026 Not one to turn down a potential sign of good luck, Neto started pulling cards. — Liana Handler follow, Los Angeles Times, 5 July 2026 After pulling Ohtani as a pitcher after six innings, Roberts pinch-hit for him later in that seventh inning. — Bill Plunkett, Oc Register, 4 July 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pulling
  1. hauling
  2. prying
  3. stretching
  4. dragging
  5. yanking
  6. straining
  7. tugging
  8. extracting
Verb
  • At the time of his death, Garcia-Sanchez was hauling asbestos-containing materials from the ninth floor to lower levels using a freight elevator, the report said.
    — Kansas City Star, Kansas City Star, 23 July 2026
  • Within that glut of set pieces, throw-ins became crucial, too, with specialists hauling the ball into the box to maximise the chaos.
    — Mark Carey, New York Times, 21 July 2026
Definition of hauling
Verb
  • Not with these linen panels that Malek Barney recommends—the thicker fabric strikes that Goldilocks balance between privacy and natural light, letting sunlight gently filter through while still shielding your space from prying eyes.
    — Alexandra Emanuelli, Southern Living, 22 June 2026
  • The two have already had a few chats away from prying eyes and shared a few kisses.
    — Allison DeGrushe, StyleCaster, 10 June 2026
Definition of prying
Verb
  • That could mean walking for two to five minutes every 30 to 60 minutes, taking calls while standing or pacing, using stairs, stretching, or doing a few bodyweight movements between meetings.
    — Jakob Roze, Health, 23 July 2026
  • The metropolitan area was instead placed in parts of three districts, with Cohen’s reshaped district stretching a couple hundred miles eastward before reaching north toward the Nashville suburbs.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 23 July 2026
Definition of stretching
Verb
  • The European Space Agency’s ClearSpace-1, planned for 2029, tackles the harder case by capturing the unprepared, noncooperative Proba-1 satellite and dragging it down to burn up.
    — Wanjiku Chebet Kanjumba, The Conversation, 22 July 2026
  • Lebanon's top political leadership criticized Hezbollah for dragging the country into another war, but also condemned Israel for its widespread bombing and ground invasion.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 22 July 2026
Definition of dragging
Verb
  • The tentacular Scylla is seen briefly but makes an impact, yanking sailors off Odysseus’s ship in a series of loud jump scares.
    — Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 16 July 2026
  • Pinned beneath her rotting legs in his recliner chair, Loftis narrowly escapes by yanking its lever, catapulting the hag over his head.
    — Tessa Solomon, ARTnews.com, 15 July 2026
Definition of yanking
Verb
  • Low river levels are disrupting cargo transport, and water scarcity is straining hydropower-dependent regions.
    — Sanidhya Sharma, Scientific American, 24 July 2026
  • Darling-Hammond described a system straining to keep pace with a changing economy, in which students increasingly move in and out of college and blend academic coursework with hands-on career training.
    — Jaweed Kaleem, Los Angeles Times, 23 July 2026
Definition of straining
Verb
  • Prying policy specifics from a political candidate often is like tugging a bone from a bulldog.
    — George F. Will, Washington Post, 17 July 2026
  • Jude, meanwhile, was shifting from tossing cones to tugging at his ears, afflicted with the same malady that had landed several of the toddlers on the room’s version of the injury list.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 30 June 2026
Definition of tugging
Verb
  • They’ve been seen, for example, corralling schools of rays, creating waves to push penguins from ice blocks and extracting the livers of white sharks.
    — Jackie Flynn Mogensen, Scientific American, 23 July 2026
  • Previously, extracting valuable data from customer conversations was cumbersome.
    — Anna Convery, Forbes.com, 23 July 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 26 Jul. 2026.

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Nglish: Translation of pulling for Spanish Speakers

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