as in pull
the act or an instance of applying force on something so that it moves in the direction of the force
had to give the shoe a good yank to get it off
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
as in to jerk
to move or cause to move with a sharp quick motion
she stupidly yanked the wheel while I was driving
Synonyms & Similar Words
2
as in to pull
to draw out by force or with effort
yanked out a tooth with a pair of pliers
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in to grab
to separate or remove by forceful pulling
grab the other one, and let's see if we can't yank these two grocery carriages apart
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of yank
Scott Hocker, TheWeek, 24 Mar. 2026
Effectively, this turned the workspace into a yank buffer along with all your documents, and undoing any destructive editing operation thus became merely another cut and paste.
—Cameron Kaiser, ArsTechnica, 12 Sep. 2025
Andy Clayton, New York Daily News, 14 June 2026
But the suspicion the US wasn’t really a football nation was compounded at the opening ceremony, after Diana Ross danced the length of the pitch to take a penalty kick and yanked the ball far left of the goal, which was unfortunately rigged to split apart to simulate a wonder-strike.
—Bloomberg, Mercury News, 9 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for yank
Noun
Soy sauce, Maggi seasoning, daikon and shiitake mushroom yank pot roast into new territory.
—Scott Hocker, TheWeek, 24 Mar. 2026
Effectively, this turned the workspace into a yank buffer along with all your documents, and undoing any destructive editing operation thus became merely another cut and paste.
—Cameron Kaiser, ArsTechnica, 12 Sep. 2025
Verb
The announced attendance was a capacity 80,663, which is a little under 2,000 less than full capacity for the Giants and Jets as seats had to be yanked out down low to fit the regulation soccer field into MetLife Stadium.
—Andy Clayton, New York Daily News, 14 June 2026
But the suspicion the US wasn’t really a football nation was compounded at the opening ceremony, after Diana Ross danced the length of the pitch to take a penalty kick and yanked the ball far left of the goal, which was unfortunately rigged to split apart to simulate a wonder-strike.
—Bloomberg, Mercury News, 9 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for yank
Recent Examples of Synonyms for yank
Noun
-
That sense of modernity has sometimes felt absent from the movies’ sweetly old-fashioned world, which features pull-string cowboy dolls and a shiny spaceman action figure.—
David Sims,
The Atlantic,
19 June 2026
-
The wind projects to blow out to right field tonight, enhancing Muncy’s pull-side power potential.—
Josh Shepardson,
Forbes.com,
19 June 2026
Verb
-
Don’t twist or jerk the tick, which can cause the mouth to break off in your skin.—
Reeti Malhotra,
Sacbee.com,
20 June 2026
-
Once the squid gather near the surface, lines fitted with bait are lowered into the water and rapidly jerked up and down to imitate small prey such as shrimp, triggering strikes before the catch is reeled aboard.—
Bojan Stojkovski,
Interesting Engineering,
20 June 2026
Verb
-
His torso and thighs grow eye-poppingly muscular beneath their skimpy fur-and-leather togs—a development that does not go unnoticed by a warrior named Red Hair, who plucks the young hunk from his post and tosses him into the prime time of the gladiator pit.—
Naomi Fry,
New Yorker,
15 June 2026
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As with the studio version, the track began with Lifeson plucking out a delicate intro on a nylon-string guitar before blasting into monster electric riffs.—
Brian Hiatt,
Rolling Stone,
14 June 2026
Verb
-
Grant asks Chris about the boxing gloves now for sale in the night store, but Katie forestalls him by running over and grabbing them, nearly flattening Chris.—
Tasha Robinson,
Vulture,
16 June 2026
-
Demonstrators grabbed bricks from the ground to throw at police, as tear gas was deployed in Geneva's streets, witnesses told Reuters.—
Landon Mion,
FOXNews.com,
15 June 2026
Noun
-
If all goes well, Katalyst's space tug (it's called Link) will lift the Swift observatory into a higher, safer orbit — one that will add years of life to the aging space telescope's mission.—
Tariq Malik,
Space.com,
19 June 2026
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The clash between the two dynamics — one extolling beauty, the other detailing gruesome crimes — makes for an oil-vinegar mix that speaks to the tug of war women experience between using the beauty versus their brains.—
Randy Myers,
Mercury News,
18 June 2026
Verb
-
Leon Stetson was allegedly twitching, so officers moved him away from Carrie Stetson and started to render medical aid.—
Kellie Love,
Hartford Courant,
12 June 2026
-
Durrell alternates between slapstick domestic high jinks, wanderings through the lush natural landscape, and increasingly ambitious investigations of biological life, from tracking twitching bacteria in pond water to the mating habits of insects.—
Rachel Syme,
New Yorker,
10 June 2026
Verb
-
The ability to extract consumer insights, test prototypes, and craft compelling product narratives must be embedded across teams, according to Kemkers.—
Sally Percy,
Forbes.com,
19 June 2026
-
The agreement appears to offer Iran several benefits up front while extracting little in return.—
Seung Min Kim,
Chicago Tribune,
18 June 2026
Verb
-
Video posted to social media showed the plane on its side and smashed into a highway barrier as the tail was ripped from the fuselage.—
Landon Mion,
FOXNews.com,
17 June 2026
-
Perhaps the police ripped it from me that time on Merrion Square.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
17 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Yank.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/yank. Accessed 23 Jun. 2026.
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