wrested

verb

past tense of wrest
1
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
2
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

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3
as in earned
to get with great difficulty farmers who were used to wresting a living from the harsh land

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4
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

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5
as in grabbed
to separate or remove by forceful pulling wrested open the stuck door of the cabinet

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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 The report also stated that Saudi Arabia has ruled out negotiations until the strait has been wrested from Houthi control. — Brady Knox, The Washington Examiner, 4 Oct. 2026 Colandrea rushed for a career-best 108 yards and used his legs to convert key third downs as the Huskers wrested control away from the Terps in the second and third quarters. — Mitch Sherman, New York Times, 4 Oct. 2026 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 Women are wrested from their seats and don’t return. — Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 29 Apr. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for wrested
  1. pried
  2. extorted
  3. earned
  4. pulled
  5. grabbed
  6. yanked
  7. squeezed
  8. wrenched
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
  • Luca Guadagnino‘s tech tale, which follows the five-day period in 2023 when Altman was fired and then rehired, earned rave reviews after its world premiere at New York Film Festival last week.
    — Alex Ritman, Variety, 12 Oct. 2026
  • But the respect the band had earned from the country firmament felt, at best, grudging.
    — Shaad D’Souza, Pitchfork, 11 Oct. 2026
Definition of earned
Verb
  • Our shopping editors have done the wandering for you and pulled the furniture deals worth acting on before midnight, with some marked down by more than 50%.
    — Audrey Lee, Architectural Digest, 7 Oct. 2026
  • Nick Pivetta yielded two runs and five hits while pitching into the fifth for the Padres, and Dustin May got pulled abruptly with a 1-0 count on Bogaerts and a runner aboard in the fourth.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 7 Oct. 2026
Definition of pulled
Verb
  • The store owner grabbed a gun and fired, sending the group fleeing empty-handed, according to FOX13 Seattle.
    — Stephen Sorace, FOXNews.com, 8 Oct. 2026
  • Protesters grabbed metal barriers blocking off the street and charged a row of cops before the officers were able to pull the barriers away from them.
    — Kerry Burke, New York Daily News, 8 Oct. 2026
Definition of grabbed
Verb
  • Every belt buckle looks freshly yanked off the rack; every speck of signage resembles something painted 45 minutes before filming commenced that day.
    — Michael Phillips, Variety, 8 Oct. 2026
  • After Lopez says something to the officers, he is yanked to the ground and punched repeatedly.
    — Iris Kwok, Los Angeles Times, 6 Oct. 2026
Definition of yanked
Verb
  • Pick it up, however, and there's no mistaking how much battery Bluetti has squeezed inside.
    — Michael Lydick, PC Magazine, 9 Oct. 2026
  • Give members of the business and culture press the excuse to write about the rough economics of linear TV and how late night is particularly squeezed.
    — Josef Adalian, Vulture, 8 Oct. 2026
Definition of squeezed
Verb
  • The flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, after passengers stormed the cockpit and wrenched back controlfrom the attacker, who Israeli officials suspect was trying to crash the plane.
    — Nicholas Wu, semafor.com, 2 Oct. 2026
  • The driver wrenched the Jeep to the left, arm over arm churning at the wheel.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 22 Sep. 2026
Definition of wrenched

Browse Nearby Words

wrest
wrested
wresting
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Cite this Entry

“Wrested.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/wrested. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

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