pries 1 of 2

verb (1)

present tense third-person singular of pry
1
as in pulls
to raise, move, or pull apart with or as if with a lever it took some effort to pry up the trap door

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2
as in plucks
to draw out by force or with effort a vain attempt to pry the cork out of a wine bottle

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

pries

2 of 2

verb (2)

present tense third-person singular of pry
as in interferes
to interest oneself in what is not one's concern don't go prying into other people's business

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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 pries
Verb
By fields of cotton and soybeans where his bees forage and pollinate, Foster Hensel pries open the lid of one of his beehives, setting off a rising hum from inside. — Drew Hawkins, NPR, 27 Aug. 2026 Remove the 11 Philips-head screws on the bottom of the laptop, and its bottom pries up with a bit of pressure. — ArsTechnica, 24 Aug. 2026 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 Could this be the year Johannesburg pries visitors away from Cape Town with a cool new city hotel and a dynamic dining scene, or when sunseekers take another look at Mauritius instead of the Maldives? — Cnt Editors, Condé Nast Traveler, 15 Nov. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pries
  1. pulls
  2. plucks
  3. interferes
  4. lifts
  5. extracts
  6. pokes
  7. yanks
  8. messes
Verb
  • There’s a fun bit when Green pulls her badge to walk Reacher out through the police cordon, pretending to have placed him under arrest, but the ruse doesn’t last long.
    — Chris Klimek, Vulture, 26 Aug. 2026
  • The curvy wood frame and oversized door pulls give the Scandi-centric piece a bit of retro appeal without feeling dated.
    — Audrey Lee, Architectural Digest, 26 Aug. 2026
Definition of pulls
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
  • But the emotional gravity of this offering's deeply personal, melancholic lyrical content plucks an undeniably profound chord that uniquely separates it from the rest of his work.
    — Chris Barilla, PEOPLE, 29 May 2026
Definition of plucks
Verb
  • But as China’s 2018 detention of two Canadian citizens after Canada arrested a Huawei executive showed, the party readily interferes in the legal system when important interests are at stake.
    — Mark Jia, Foreign Affairs, 7 Aug. 2026
  • Here’s when to watch and how to catch the best views before bright moonlight interferes.
    — Julia Gomez, USA Today, 1 July 2026
Definition of interferes
Verb
  • SpaceX's Starship rocket lifts off from Starbase, Texas, as seen from South Padre Island on August 26, 2025, for its tenth test flight.
    — Reuters, NBC news, 25 Aug. 2026
  • In one of the most memorable panels in superherocomic history, Bane, having beaten Batman down in his own Batcave, lifts the hero over his head and slams him down over his knee, breaking his back.
    — Daniel Dockery, Vulture, 24 Aug. 2026
Definition of lifts
Verb
  • Smart Document Capture extracts financial information from invoices, receipts and other documents directly into Xero.
    — Gene Marks, Forbes.com, 30 Aug. 2026
  • Under a contract with Konza Health, the new system automatically extracts emergency room records covering more than 10,000 diagnostic conditions.
    — Mike Stunson, USA Today, 28 July 2026
Definition of extracts
Verb
  • Even in the bathrooms, the toilet and bidet are concealed inside a kind of Travertine bench and the showerhead pokes out from a monolithic stone slab.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 4 Aug. 2026
  • This is strong language, which pokes at our tribal memory of gasoline shortages from the 1970’s.
    — George Calhoun, Forbes.com, 31 July 2026
Definition of pokes
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, Literary Hub, 19 May 2026
Definition of yanks
Verb
  • Ships, like airplanes, are designed with fluid dynamics in mind, and biofoul seriously messes that up.
    — David Goldman, CNN Money, 23 June 2026
  • From pet hair to crumbs, this Shark handheld cordless vacuum cleaner can tackle messes large and small, thanks to strong suction and a self-cleaning brush that resists pet hair accumulation.
    — BestReviews, Chicago Tribune, 27 May 2026
Definition of messes

Browse Nearby Words

priers
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Cite this Entry

“Pries.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pries. Accessed 1 Sep. 2026.

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