WRESTED Synonyms: 80 Similar and Opposite Words

wrested

verb

past tense of wrest

as in pried

to draw out by force or with effort the boy wrested the book out of his sister's hands

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in extorted

to get (as money) by the use of force or threats vowed that the bully had wrested his lunch money from him for the last time

Synonyms & Similar Words

as in earned

to get with great difficulty farmers who were used to wresting a living from the harsh land

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as in pulled

to move by or as if by a forceful rotation I need a strong arm to wrest the lid off this pickle jar

Synonyms & Similar Words

as in grabbed

to separate or remove by forceful pulling wrested open the stuck door of the cabinet

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

reattached

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 wrested Another unidentified witness saw the struggle and wrested the knife from Rivas, according to police. — David Lyons, Sun Sentinel, 3 Aug. 2026 In this case, the production company Embassy Pictures wrested control of Crimewave away from Raimi after a challenging shoot, leading the director to disavow the film. — David Canfield, HollywoodReporter, 22 July 2026 And yet, no one has wrested the crown away from the attention king. — Jacob Feldman, Sportico.com, 8 July 2026 Amid the fallout, Honarkar lost possession of most of his properties, including the historic Hotel Laguna, where a public scuffle had broken out in 2023 between his security team and guards working for the partner who wrested control of the landmark. — Los Angeles Times, 21 June 2026 That was when microbes wrested energy from light and, in the process, breathed new life into the world. — Quanta Magazine, 10 June 2026 Control was wrested back towards the end of the period, a sign of better things to come, even if that profligacy that has dogged them so much reared once again in stoppage time at the end of the half. — Matt Woosnam, New York Times, 28 May 2026 Women are wrested from their seats and don’t return. — Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 29 Apr. 2026 OpenAI briefly considered plans to transition into a for-profit company in 2024, which would have wrested control from the nonprofit and kept it as a separate arm. — Ashley Capoot, CNBC, 24 Apr. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for wrested

Verb

Someone pried open the rear cover to a truck and stole a set of golf clubs for a loss of about $3,000.

— Anne Gelhaus, Mercury News, 7 Sep. 2026
But maybe pried his focus and joy and freedom away just a little bit going into the year.

— Will Sammon, New York Times, 4 Sep. 2026

Definition of pried

Verb

Clement later successfully extorted one of Roshanki’s friends for $5,000 in drug proceeds, then insisted that Roshanski owed him money for drugs and fraud.

— Nate Gartrell, Mercury News, 27 Aug. 2026
The police chief allegedly extorted the victim and the victim’s father in connection with the pending murder case.

— Brittny Mejia, Los Angeles Times, 7 July 2026

Definition of extorted

Verb

Ravens earned the first win of the night In a thrilling twist, the Ravens actually captured our attention by narrowly avoiding overtime with a field goal in the final second of the game!

— Isabella Albaig, Vulture, 28 Sep. 2026
Born and raised in Southern California, Brit Bennett earned her MFA in fiction at the University of Michigan.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 28 Sep. 2026

Definition of earned

Verb

Berkeley police said the long object Shrine pulled from his pocket while following Winograd into her apartment building was believed to be a barbecue lighter.

— Clara Harter, Los Angeles Times, 23 Sep. 2026
Saints follows Lali, a drifter and a thief, who is pulled back to Barcelona to face and care for her estranged mother Gloria.

— Zac Ntim, Deadline, 23 Sep. 2026

Definition of pulled

Verb

Except a woman who knew both of them eventually grabbed Leigh and more or less threw her into Beck.

— Josephine Reisman, Vulture, 24 Sep. 2026
Two veteran training officers and new paramedic Cristina DeBiase grabbed their equipment and gurney while another EMT remained with the ambulance and attempted to move it through traffic.

— ABC News, ABC News, 23 Sep. 2026

Definition of grabbed

Verb

The catch is that the number of neutrons in the universe plummeted during the game, like chairs being yanked out of line.

— Cara Giovanetti, The Conversation, 25 Sep. 2026
However, multiple lab-wide reorganizations after NASA yanked its flagship Mars project increased the overhead for other projects like GRACE-Continuity.

— Ian James, Los Angeles Times, 24 Sep. 2026

Definition of yanked

Browse Nearby Words

wrest

wrested

wresting

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Style

“Wrested.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/wrested. Accessed 28 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of wrested

verb

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