yanked; yanking; yanks
: to pull on something with a quick vigorous movement
1
: to pull or extract with a quick vigorous movement
2
: to remove in or as if in an abrupt manner
yanked the story from the evening edition
Synonyms
Examples of yank in a Sentence
Verb
He yanked the door shut.
She yanked on the dog's leash.
Noun (1)
had to give the shoe a good yank to get it off
Recent Examples on the Web
Michael Gfoeller and David H. Rundell, Newsweek, 15 Jan. 2025
At one point another DOC officer, wearing blue latex gloves, yanks him up by the scruff of the neck and drags him to the back of the room by a window.
—Thomas Tracy, New York Daily News, 3 Jan. 2025
Sean Evans, Robb Report, 30 Oct. 2024
With tugs and yanks and positive feedback, a planetary makeover began that is rampant today.
—Stephen Pyne, Scientific American, 16 Apr. 2024
See all Example Sentences for yank 
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Verb
On Monday, two police officers struggled to pull a coyote out of a fridge at an Aldi store, with a now-viral video showing an officer yank it out by its tail before the animal jumps right back into the fridge.
—Michael Gfoeller and David H. Rundell, Newsweek, 15 Jan. 2025
At one point another DOC officer, wearing blue latex gloves, yanks him up by the scruff of the neck and drags him to the back of the room by a window.
—Thomas Tracy, New York Daily News, 3 Jan. 2025
Noun
The resulting specs: 434 ponies and 525 lb-ft of yank.
—Sean Evans, Robb Report, 30 Oct. 2024
With tugs and yanks and positive feedback, a planetary makeover began that is rampant today.
—Stephen Pyne, Scientific American, 16 Apr. 2024
See all Example Sentences for yank
Dictionary Entries Near yank
Cite this Entry
“Yank.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/yank. Accessed 20 Jan. 2025.
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