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
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of yanked
For the past couple of years, volunteers have cut grass, trimmed and yanked out invasive vines.
—
Kenneth R. Gosselin,
Hartford Courant,
28 June 2026
Roberts quickly gave up a run-scoring single to Christian Yelich and was yanked with the bases loaded and no outs.
—
Paul Sullivan,
Chicago Tribune,
28 June 2026
For The Times) Greenberg yanked his bat back, looking like a young Ken Griffey Jr.
—
Christopher Buchanan,
Los Angeles Times,
26 June 2026
The plan has morphed in the decade since its inception amid local opposition, and in 2024 proponents yanked a related ballot measure after opting to try and work with local regulators.
—
Lia Russell,
Sacbee.com,
26 June 2026
Within days of its release, Anthropic’s most sophisticated public AI model was abruptly yanked from customers.
—
Hadas Gold,
CNN Money,
21 June 2026
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
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
Kenneth R. Gosselin,
Hartford Courant,
28 June 2026
Roberts quickly gave up a run-scoring single to Christian Yelich and was yanked with the bases loaded and no outs.
—
Paul Sullivan,
Chicago Tribune,
28 June 2026
For The Times) Greenberg yanked his bat back, looking like a young Ken Griffey Jr.
—
Christopher Buchanan,
Los Angeles Times,
26 June 2026
The plan has morphed in the decade since its inception amid local opposition, and in 2024 proponents yanked a related ballot measure after opting to try and work with local regulators.
—
Lia Russell,
Sacbee.com,
26 June 2026
Within days of its release, Anthropic’s most sophisticated public AI model was abruptly yanked from customers.
—
Hadas Gold,
CNN Money,
21 June 2026
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
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for yanked
Verb
-
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.
-
Suddenly, the tent jerked and wobbled.
Verb
-
After the network successfully pulled together a motley crew of Real Housewives offspring and their Manhattan socialite friends last year, the gang is back for a second season in the city.
-
Arraez pulled a 1-1 curveball from the Athletics’ Aaron Civale off the top of his right foot and collapsed to the ground in pain.
Verb
-
This is just one in a sweaty dungeon of hundreds of TikTok videos that show women being stalked, grabbed, tortured, tossed to the ground, and handcuffed by scary masked soldiers.
-
Her mother asked what had just happened, and the girl related that Spencer had grabbed her.
Verb
-
Initial data indicates both of these earthquakes were strike-slip, Magnani said, meaning one plate lurched past the other along the boundary.
-
Rodney McDonald, who was traveling with his wife and two sons, told ABC News the ordeal began when the aircraft unexpectedly lurched.
Verb
-
My sternum was fractured, my rib cage pried open.
-
Lonnie has plenty stacked against him, not least of all his own son, who is inching closer to surpassing his status in the golf world — people are even starting to call him the Hawk, a torch that had to have been pried out of his father’s hand.
Verb
-
Lineage, which describes itself as the world's largest owner of cold storage facilities, experienced a fire at another of its warehouses, in Finley, Washington, which ripped through the entire building and burned for two months in 2024.
-
The lessons aren’t all that different from the great breadstick campaign of 2014, when Starboard’s Jeff Smith’s play at Olive Garden parent Darden literally ripped the company for undersalting its pasta water in an effort to save money on pots and pans.
Verb
-
Many a club’s board would have twitched in the face of the bare data, but the chain of command above Arteta stayed the course, and the FOMO is so high that tickets for Palace away this weekend are going for £45,000 ($60,000) on resale sites.
-
My jaw twitched uncontrollably.
Verb
-
The irradiated samples were successfully extracted after being tested inside Idaho National Laboratory’s (INL) Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) on May 6, 2026.
-
Although longtime group engineer and audio legend George Massenburg is interviewed, more mileage might have been extracted from his involvement.
Cite this Entry
“Yanked.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/yanked. Accessed 2 Jul. 2026.
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