yanks 1 of 2

noun

plural of yank
as in tugs
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

yanks

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of yank
1
as in jerks
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 pulls
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 grabs
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 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 yanks
Noun
The yanks are coming, the yanks are coming! — Kirk Bowman, The Conversation, 9 June 2026
Verb
Johnson yanks veterans' benefits package An effort to advance a package of VA benefits bills this morning on the House floor went down in flames – the latest in Speaker Mike Johnson's struggle to get Republicans on the same page. — Zachary Schermele, USA Today, 16 July 2026 Like a false note on an out-of-tune piano, a clunky verb, a sentence without rhythm, yanks the reader out the flow of the work. — Literary Hub, 19 May 2026 Maden takes thee wine bottle from him and the officers reach for his wrists but Brown resists and yanks his arms back, the video shows. — Rocco Parascandola, New York Daily News, 19 Apr. 2026 Leaphorn yanks the jug his way (despite being cuffed) and is able to put the filter packet down his pants. — Jordan Hoffman, Entertainment Weekly, 6 Apr. 2026 According to the footage, Falcinelli then moves toward the officer before the officer yanks him by the arm. — Devoun Cetoute, Miami Herald, 24 Feb. 2026 Behind Jovan, the posse breaks into boardinghouses, yanks a miner from behind a grocery counter, shoots another dead in his home. — Masha Hamilton, Longreads, 19 Feb. 2026 Judy yanks Mikey’s roller trunk out of the mud and leads him toward one of the nearby hiking trails. — Michael Nied, PEOPLE, 26 Nov. 2025 Thing rebels against his master and yanks out his clockwork heart. — Jessica M. Goldstein, Vulture, 4 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for yanks
  1. tugs
  2. jerks
  3. pulls
  4. grabs
  5. twitches
  6. pries
  7. tears
  8. lurches
Noun
  • The European Investment Bank (EIB) estimates that roughly 200 wrecks, including warships, barges, tugs, and cargo vessels, remain scattered across a five-kilometer stretch of the river near Prahovo.
    — Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 4 Aug. 2026
  • Momentus’ spacecraft can also serve as space tugs to ferry smaller satellites or experiments from one orbit to another.
    — Stephen Clark, ArsTechnica, 9 July 2026
Definition of tugs
Verb
  • In a viral video of the aftermath, the robot jerks back and forth to shake the glass off, showering yet more dangerous shards onto the sidewalk.
    — Frank Landymore, Futurism, 26 Mar. 2026
  • Ross’s video does not show if the SUV made contact with him, as the camera angle jerks up to the sky.
    — Danya Gainor, CNN Money, 12 Jan. 2026
Definition of jerks
Verb
  • The move pulls back on the city’s previous decision to eliminate parking minimums in 2022 to help encourage development.
    — Luis Melecio-Zambrano, Mercury News, 19 Aug. 2026
  • The funding will help CAEPlus develop BoundaryCool, a system that pulls heat away from graphics processing units (GPUs), central processing units (CPUs), and tensor processing units (TPUs) using active liquid cooling.
    — Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 17 Aug. 2026
Definition of pulls
Verb
  • Kurt's key takeaways What grabs me about this story isn’t simply the fact that a robot was involved in eye surgery.
    — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 19 Aug. 2026
  • The little breaths, the cloth grabs and punches were all deliberate.
    — Simon Thompson, HollywoodReporter, 17 Aug. 2026
Definition of grabs
Verb
  • Persistent muscle twitches Everyone’s muscles twitch from time to time, usually at various locations.
    — Angela Haupt, Time, 15 Jan. 2026
  • Some devices, for example, track eye movements or other small muscle twitches to let users select words from a screen.
    — Emma R. Hasson, Scientific American, 14 Aug. 2025
Definition of twitches
Verb
  • There are swooping close encounters with heavenly bodies, Lego blocks in antigravity mode and swarms of Separators, a sort of astro-anthropomorphic version of the tool that pries apart Lego bricks in real life.
    — Dewayne Bevil, The Orlando Sentinel, 24 Feb. 2026
  • The show’s biggest laugh may come when Testa pries open Costanzo’s mouth and pronounces just how many performances of Norma Galas has left.
    — Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 19 Sep. 2025
Definition of pries
Verb
  • In a sense, the proof shows that a world in which love never returns is a world whose geometry tears itself apart—assuming, of course, the proof holds up.
    — Sam Macdonald, Scientific American, 14 Aug. 2026
  • Instead of wiping firmware, an adversary nudges a setpoint, edits a protection parameter, distorts a sensor feed—or shows the operator a calm screen while the equipment tears itself apart.
    — Julian Durand, Forbes.com, 7 Aug. 2026
Definition of tears
Verb
  • The film unhurriedly lurches from one markedly similar fight scene to the next, with only Skeletor’s occasional injections of ripe innuendo to liven them up a bit.
    — Guy Lodge, Variety, 2 June 2026
  • By the end, Noonan’s film stops feeling like a first date and starts to resemble the makings of a crime scene as his mood lurches toward something dangerous.
    — Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 1 May 2026
Definition of lurches

Browse Nearby Words

yanking
yanks
yap
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Yanks.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/yanks. Accessed 23 Aug. 2026.

Copy Citation

More from Merriam-Webster on yanks

Nglish: Translation of yanks for Spanish Speakers

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of prowess

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

How to Pronounce the Trickiest Menu Items

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Do you 'say your piece' or 'say your peace'?

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Words from the 'Odyssey'

The Longest Long Words List

Even More Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

The Words of the Week - Aug. 21

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

Words from the 'Odyssey'

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
alt-684346df967d5
Add A Letter Quiz Pick the letter that goes in the same spot in fou...
See All