1
as in jerked
to move or cause to move with a sharp quick motion
she stupidly yanked the wheel while I was driving
Synonyms & Similar Words
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2
as in pulled
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 grabbed
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
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of yanked
Still, the crisis was remarkable in that, despite the 1-billion-plus barrels yanked from the market since February, US and European benchmark crude prices didn’t top the spike following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
—
Tim McDonnell, semafor.com, 16 June 2026
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
An abrupt sell-off in once-soaring artificial intelligence stocks yanked Wall Street sharply lower, erasing five weeks of gains and knocking the Standard & Poor’s 500 index, Dow and Nasdaq into broad retreat.
—Stan Choe, Los Angeles Times, 10 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
The Venice Biennale opened its most chaotic and contested edition in recent memory on May 9, with the prestigious Golden Lion yanked from contention after the jury quit in protest of Israel’s and Russia’s participation.
—ABC News, 4 June 2026
The court filing also alleges that Wyatt yanked another 2-year-old off a toilet after the child accidentally urinated on the floor, and on another occasion allegedly directed a group of children to attack a 3-year-old.
—Sean Neumann, PEOPLE, 2 June 2026
Her only help came from a passenger who yanked the girls away.
—Caitlin McGlade, Charlotte Observer, 2 June 2026
Miller overcorrected with his next pitch and yanked a fastball way inside before sending a fastball above the zone.
—Kevin Acee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 19 May 2026
Tim McDonnell, semafor.com, 16 June 2026
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
An abrupt sell-off in once-soaring artificial intelligence stocks yanked Wall Street sharply lower, erasing five weeks of gains and knocking the Standard & Poor’s 500 index, Dow and Nasdaq into broad retreat.
—Stan Choe, Los Angeles Times, 10 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
The Venice Biennale opened its most chaotic and contested edition in recent memory on May 9, with the prestigious Golden Lion yanked from contention after the jury quit in protest of Israel’s and Russia’s participation.
—ABC News, 4 June 2026
The court filing also alleges that Wyatt yanked another 2-year-old off a toilet after the child accidentally urinated on the floor, and on another occasion allegedly directed a group of children to attack a 3-year-old.
—Sean Neumann, PEOPLE, 2 June 2026
Her only help came from a passenger who yanked the girls away.
—Caitlin McGlade, Charlotte Observer, 2 June 2026
Miller overcorrected with his next pitch and yanked a fastball way inside before sending a fastball above the zone.
—Kevin Acee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 19 May 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for yanked
Verb
-
In the summer of 2020, former Morgan Stanley trader Adam Crawley was wandering through Indonesia, Thailand and Australia, perfecting his qigong with a man called Master YanG, when a cold message on LinkedIn jerked him back to reality.—
Rashi Shrivastava,
Forbes.com,
26 May 2026
-
We are jerked between past and present as his backstory gets filled in, one jogged memory at a time.—
Justin Chang,
New Yorker,
13 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
Detmers was still 15 pitches shy of his season-high when Suzuki pulled him.—
Jeff Fletcher,
Oc Register,
11 June 2026
-
The righty was later pulled after allowing singles to the first two batters of the fifth inning, both of whom later scored and counted against Morris’ statline.—
Sean Campbell,
Sacbee.com,
10 June 2026
Verb
-
Ogwumike, who spent the past two seasons in Seattle, also grabbed nine rebounds to move into fourth on the WNBA career list, passing Rebekkah Brunson.—
Daily News,
Daily News,
11 June 2026
-
Cameron Brink added 15 points off the bench and Dearica Hamby grabbed 10 rebounds for the Sparks (6-6) in the Commissioner’s Cup game.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
11 June 2026
Verb
-
As the opening ceremony began with a flurry of speeches, the bus carrying Team Zambia lurched to a stop by the side of the road in southern Zimbabwe, 200 miles away.—
Ryan Lenora Brown,
NPR,
14 June 2026
-
In a December 2024 crash, a bus lurched onto a sidewalk outside Curley K-8 School in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood.—
Willoughby Mariano,
ProPublica,
8 June 2026
Verb
-
Or has the gold already been melted down, and the diamonds, rubies and sapphires pried from their settings and sold for the sum of their parts?—
John Miller,
CNN Money,
19 Nov. 2025
-
Malkin pried a few gory details out about the storylines out of LaNasa.—
Cynthia Littleton,
Variety,
29 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
The ball was then taken by Julian Quinones, who took just one dribble toward the middle of the field and ripped a right-footed shot into the net, putting the crowd into a frenzy.—
Ryan Morik,
FOXNews.com,
11 June 2026
-
According to Ferguson, the adults were ripped out of the car as children were screaming in the backseat.—
JT Moodee Lockman,
CBS News,
11 June 2026
Verb
-
Pebbles twitched, branches waggled, cholla wiggled, weeds erupted then dried up and died.—
Alina Hartounian,
NPR,
20 Apr. 2026
-
Kearse twitched briefly after the lethal drugs began entering his system but stopped moving several minutes later.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
4 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
The team collected 53 masks in sterile bags and cut out the outer layers to analyze just the microbes circulating in the air and not in people’s respiratory passages, then extracted and analyzed DNA from them.—
Alice Park,
Time,
4 Dec. 2025
-
After the clouded lens was extracted, surgeons implanted a clear, artificial replacement to restore 20/20 vision.—
Neetika Walter,
Interesting Engineering,
4 Dec. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Yanked.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/yanked. Accessed 17 Jun. 2026.
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