as in penitentiaries
a place of confinement for persons held in lawful custody
some lowlife who had been in and out of hock most of his adult life
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in pawns
to leave as a guarantee of repayment of a loan
the prince had to hock the family jewels to pay his gambling debts
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of hocks
Josh Miller, Southern Living, 30 Dec. 2025
Noun
There’s not a lot of meat on ham hocks, but there’s a lot of skin and bone, which after a long simmer infuse the potlikker with collagen, like a rich bone broth.
—Josh Miller, Southern Living, 30 Dec. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hocks
Noun
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The wave of prison violence is happening despite the deployment of military and police forces in several penitentiaries.—
Michael Rios,
CNN Money,
8 Dec. 2025
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After his conviction, Gray was sent to Angola, one of the most violent penitentiaries in the country at the time.—
Richard A. Webster,
ProPublica,
25 Aug. 2025
Noun
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There have also been fewer inmate deaths in Tarrant County than in Dallas and Harris counties, although those county jails have more capacity — 7,552 beds in Dallas County and 10,466 beds in Harris County, the report shows.—
Matthew Adams,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
13 Feb. 2026
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North Carolina legislators accurately portrayed a gap between how many people Immigration and Customs Enforcement picked up from Mecklenburg and Wake County jails through much of 2025.—
Mary Ramsey,
Charlotte Observer,
13 Feb. 2026
Verb
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The agency deposits up to $1,000 in these accounts them if parents complete recommended preventive care before their babies turn two.—
Cathie Anderson,
Sacbee.com,
30 Jan. 2026
-
Because of the low reactivity of fluorine, when KL-50 deposits fluoroethyl groups onto the cells, the crosslinks are slow to form.—
Isabella Backman,
Hartford Courant,
27 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Iraq's National Center for International Judicial Cooperation said 5,704 suspects from 61 countries who were affiliated with IS were transferred from prisons in Syria.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
14 Feb. 2026
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Ghislaine Maxwell’s lawyer, David Oscar Markus, says mounting media campaigns from federal prisons is hardly as simple as buying a ring light and pressing record.—
Andrew Zucker,
HollywoodReporter,
13 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Small planters made from thicker plastics can be used to hold items like pens, sticky notes, and scissors.—
Asia London Palomba,
The Spruce,
8 Feb. 2026
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Fentanyl also can come in powder and vape pens.—
Rosalio Ahumada,
Sacbee.com,
4 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Researchers have developed a mathematical framework to design knee-like joints in robots, called rolling contact joints.—
Prabhat Ranjan Mishra,
Interesting Engineering,
9 Feb. 2026
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Don’t forget to provide extra help getting up there if your cat is older or has achy, stiff joints.—
Cody Godwin,
USA Today,
6 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Hocks.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hocks. Accessed 14 Feb. 2026.
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