wrest

Definition of wrestnext
1
as in to pry
to draw out by force or with effort the boy wrested the book out of his sister's hands

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2
as in to extort
to get (as money) by the use of force or threats vowed that the bully had wrested his lunch money from him for the last time

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3
as in to earn
to get with great difficulty farmers who were used to wresting a living from the harsh land

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4
5
as in to grab
to separate or remove by forceful pulling wrested open the stuck door of the cabinet

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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 wrest Kantamanto is trying to wrest back some measure of control. Jasmin Malik Chua, Footwear News, 8 June 2026 One can picture a similar relief for Veeze, wresting control from the internet, letting his unfazed facade crack even if for just a moment. Matthew Ritchie, Pitchfork, 2 June 2026 Like everything else that works here, Brie’s performance wrests the last scraps of freshness from a mode of filmmaking this movie knows is played out, but doesn’t have the particular strength to reinvent. David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 2 June 2026 Control was wrested back towards the end of the period, a sign of better things to come, even if that profligacy that has dogged them so much reared once again in stoppage time at the end of the half. Matt Woosnam, New York Times, 28 May 2026 See All Example Sentences for wrest
Recent Examples of Synonyms for wrest
Verb
  • Fire alarms sounded after a resident pulled the alarm, prompting crews to evacuate buildings as a precaution.
    Greg Wehner, FOXNews.com, 2 July 2026
  • Sorloth played high, facilitating Arsenal midfielder Martin Odegaard to rotate wide and pull deeper to get on the ball.
    Liam Tharme, New York Times, 1 July 2026
Verb
  • The necessity of it to my defence against a more heinous charge could alone have extorted from me so painful an indecorum.
    Tracy Grant, Encyclopedia Britannica, 26 June 2026
  • Perhaps our two states should work in coordination to address our relative strengths and weaknesses together instead of allowing billionaire NFL ownership to extort one state over another.
    Chicago Tribune, Chicago Tribune, 25 June 2026
Verb
  • Pediatric surgeons earn $450,810 a year, on average, as of 2024, according to federal data.
    Daniel de Visé, USA Today, 5 July 2026
  • Recognizing her extraordinary intellect, the Wheatley family educated her, and by age 20 her poetry had earned publication in London.
    Robin Follman, Oc Register, 4 July 2026
Verb
  • The standout attachment for me is the large round barrel brush, which smoothed my hair with ease and didn’t tug or snag it along the way.
    Conçetta Ciarlo, Vogue, 1 July 2026
  • Jude, meanwhile, was shifting from tossing cones to tugging at his ears, afflicted with the same malady that had landed several of the toddlers on the room’s version of the injury list.
    ABC News, ABC News, 30 June 2026
Verb
  • Video of the incident showed the professor grabbing and twisting the arm of the pro-Palestinian student.
    Ruben Vives, Los Angeles Times, 30 June 2026
  • As police tried to handcuff Sever, the Westmoreland County District Attorney's Office said Sever swung at troopers and forcefully grabbed at a trooper's duty weapon, which was secured in a holster.
    Madeline Bartos, CBS News, 29 June 2026
Verb
  • Once sufficient displays of submission had been extracted, would the bankrollers of the civic-education movement redirect their largesse back toward places like that?
    Ann Manov, Harpers Magazine, 30 June 2026
  • 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.
    Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 30 June 2026
Verb
  • As artificial intelligence transforms the job market and rising living costs squeeze family budgets, the University of California system is making the case that its degrees remain valuable investments.
    Tarini Mehta, Sacbee.com, 2 July 2026
  • Breweries may not have the budget or staff to create art and with rising costs squeezing small businesses, many breweries started to feature obvious generative AI art prominently as a way to talk about events or create content.
    Em Sauter, Forbes.com, 1 July 2026
Verb
  • Exonerees in Georgia have a new pathway to obtain compensation from the state, which Pugh intends to pursue, but that process takes time.
    Taylor Croft, AJC.com, 6 July 2026
  • Authorities confirmed the match after obtaining his DNA from trash.
    Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, FOXNews.com, 5 July 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Wrest.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/wrest. Accessed 6 Jul. 2026.

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