1
as in to pull
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 to yank
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
as in to interfere
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pry
Verb
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Fire alarms sounded after a resident pulled the alarm, prompting crews to evacuate buildings as a precaution.
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Sorloth played high, facilitating Arsenal midfielder Martin Odegaard to rotate wide and pull deeper to get on the ball.
Verb
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For the past couple of years, volunteers have cut grass, trimmed and yanked out invasive vines.
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Roberts quickly gave up a run-scoring single to Christian Yelich and was yanked with the bases loaded and no outs.
Verb
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Negrón also referred to the Justice Department and its Office of Government Ethics, the findings of an internal investigation led by the economic development agency against two government officials, who are accused of interfering in the process for an auction of a contract involving federal funds.
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The Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States of America undertake to respect each other's sovereignty and territorial integrity and to refrain from interfering in each other's internal affairs.
Verb
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The evacuation order for Zone DUN-009-A was lifted, while Zone DUN-009-B remained under a mandatory evacuation order, according to the Genasys Protect service.
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Consider rearranging a corner of your home, because practical changes can lift your mood and productivity.
Verb
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Once sufficient displays of submission had been extracted, would the bankrollers of the civic-education movement redirect their largesse back toward places like that?
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Those contracts call for Next Hydrogen to design and deliver an electrolyzer that extracts tritium from heavy water, a critical process for preparing fuel used in future fusion reactors.
Verb
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Calderón, a big, bald man wearing a gold chain and cross-shaped earrings, sat off to the side, amid an entourage of muscular assistants in polo shirts, poking at his phone.
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Find a location with an unobstructed view to the southeast, where the full moon’s orangey disk will poke above the horizon minutes after the moonrise time — though exactly when depends on local terrain and buildings.
Verb
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It’s meant to be as is her ability to pluck him from the clouds and pin him to the table with her directness.
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But when they’re plucked from the garden and washed, some of the wax washes away.
Verb
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There was something a little therapeutic about messing it up.
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The sequence in which Carmy tries to talk Richie down from a panic attack feels equally dynamic and alive right to its conclusion — when Carmy pretends they’ve gotten locked in, just as Carmy once was, to mess with Richie’s head.
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Cite this Entry
“Pry.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pry. Accessed 5 Jul. 2026.
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