How to Use yank in a Sentence

yank

1 of 2 verb

• He yanked the door shut.
• She yanked on the dog's leash.
• The twister yanked them out by their roots and ripped off limbs.
  — Frank Witsil, Detroit Free Press, 14 July 2023
• The father would have to yank the wheel sharply to avoid it.
  — Madhuri Vijay, The Atlantic, 28 Sep. 2022
• Grabbing the roots of the suspect’s hair, Small yanked his head and neck back and forth.
  — Cassidy Jensen, Baltimore Sun, 16 Feb. 2024
• When Aldridge tries to grab his right arm, Cure yanks it away.
  — Alexandra E. Petri, Los Angeles Times, 19 Oct. 2023
• The coach then throws his shirt over the student’s head and yanks it around his neck.
  — Greg Wehner, Fox News, 12 June 2024
• Of course the ring gets briefly stuck, and Kate has to yank it off to hand it over to Edwina.
  — Sara Netzley, EW.com, 26 Mar. 2022
• The bull was yanking against the knotted mess with all its might to no avail.
  — Katie Hill, Outdoor Life, 4 Oct. 2023
• By the end of the year, Mr. Stupak yanked the mushroom patty melt from the menu.
  — Pete Wells, New York Times, 30 Jan. 2024
• Don't yank it off the branch, which might damage the tree and knock other apples to the ground.
  — Casey Barber, CNN, 8 Oct. 2021
• At the center of the saga are two questions: Was the card legit, and why did Goldin yank it?
  — Daniel Miller, Los Angeles Times, 14 Mar. 2024
• Then his wrists and ankles were cuffed to the sides of a stretcher, and his pants were yanked down.
  — Ellen Barry, New York Times, 21 May 2024
• Yeah, Kasay yanked a kickoff out of bounds late in the Super Bowl.
  — Scott Fowler, Charlotte Observer, 10 July 2024
• To yank out a garbage bag full of clothes is to nearly send his old Hot Wheels rolling.
  — Ginny Monk, Hartford Courant, 11 Dec. 2022
• The party may put Biden's spending bill on the back burner and yank voting rights to the front of the line.
  — Grace Segers, The New Republic, 15 Dec. 2021
• But, in the process, Brown yanked Robinson’s arm and tossed him into the courtside seats.
  — Anthony Chiang, Miami Herald, 12 Feb. 2024
• At some point, the crowd took more drastic measures and tried to yank it down with a rope and a truck.
  — New York Times, 28 Feb. 2022
• These are young men yanked out of their village by Vladimir Putin.
  — Washington Post Live, Washington Post, 17 July 2024
• Tom Cruise returned his trophies and NBC yanked the show off the air for a year.
  — Josh Rottenberg, Los Angeles Times, 5 Jan. 2024
• The officers approached his car and yanked open the door.
  — Kizzy Cox, Essence, 3 July 2024
• Shirlee yanked a scarf from Theo’s dresser and hung it around her own head.
  — Addie Citchens, The New Yorker, 5 Feb. 2024
• Two large fistfuls of hair were stuck in its teeth, yanked loose like weak weeds from dirt.
  — Safiya Sinclair, The New Yorker, 31 July 2023
• Students yank Dasani to the front of the bus where the driver, who has pulled over, is radioing for help.
  — New York Times, 28 Sep. 2021
• Or, far worse, the vehicle gets wedged inside and needs a tow truck to yank it free.
  — John Keilman, Chicago Tribune, 27 Nov. 2022
• Adjustments can be made to lower or raise the fly, and when a fish bites, the angler knows when to yank on the line.
  — New York Times, 10 Nov. 2021
• But after that, white students would walk up behind her in the halls and yank it.
  — Adam Harris, The Atlantic, 30 Sep. 2020
• Most will love the old-school power and sounds of the IS 500, but a visit to the filling station could yank them back to the future.
  — Tribune News Service, cleveland, 30 July 2022
• The man attempted to yank the chain from Smith’s neck when the gun went off striking Smith in the left shoulder.
  — Eileen Kelley, sun-sentinel.com, 22 Dec. 2021
• Soon, the patient will end the wait by waking up and trying to yank out his breathing tube.
  — New York Times, 22 July 2021

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yank

2 of 2 noun

• His method is to push down the barb below the flesh, loop the shoestring around the hook and yank fast.
  — John Goodspeed, San Antonio Express-News, 24 June 2021
• Sweed gave him a little yank, not even hard, on the jersey.
  — Zach Helfand, latimes.com, 13 Sep. 2017
• On the single gravel turn used at the Phoenix test track, a quick yank on the handbrake is all that’s needed to make the car turn-in.
  — Josh Jacquot, Car and Driver, 20 Oct. 2017
• Amazon is the focus of a push to curb ‘rank-and-yank’ worker ratings.
  — Laura Blasey, Los Angeles Times, 11 Jan. 2022
• The pony-tail yank was captured by the jail’s security cameras.
  — Gwen Filosa, miamiherald, 1 June 2017
• Without a word, the woman stood up and, giving a little yank at the seat of her bikini, strode off without a backward glance.
  — Haruki Murakami, The New Yorker, 13 Aug. 2020
• Her folding Ollie chair flattens with the yank of a cord, and a satisfying clack!
  — Jane Margolies, New York Times, 12 Mar. 2020
• Helping two other men who needed a third helper, an extra yank.
  — Lisa Respers France, CNN, 30 Aug. 2019
• At first the rider throws a rope around the neck of the small animal, stopping it mid-run with a forceful yank, which often tops the animal over.
  — Susanne Ruststaff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 13 Nov. 2022
• The son figured out that by stretching PTFE with a sudden yank, the polymer expanded by 1,000 percent.
  — The Salt Lake Tribune, 19 Sep. 2020
• Made from surgical grade stainless steel, the swooping design will not pull, tug, or yank at your lashes.
  — Chris Hachey, BGR, 9 June 2021
• But the company largely resisted the Internet, quick to police its copyrights and yank unauthorized versions of show footage from the web.
  — Brian McCollum, Detroit Free Press, 12 June 2020
• Detailing is excellent for the price and includes a waterproof abdomen pocket with cable port for earphones and a locking slider for unzipping with just a quick yank on the lapel.
  — Outside Online, 15 Aug. 2014
• Backpacks embedded with something called JetForce Technology can inflate with 200-liter bladders to about seven times their size at the yank of a handle to help keep avalanche victims from being buried and suffocating beneath the snow.
  — Outside Online, 11 Aug. 2014
• Robbie wisely leans into the cartoonish aspects of the character, and Yan lets her voice-over yank the timeline out of order and splashes graphics on the screen to accompany her more exaggerated affect.
  — James Grebey, Vulture, 6 Aug. 2021
• His method is to push down the barb below the flesh, loop the shoestring around the hook and yank fast.
  — John Goodspeed, San Antonio Express-News, 24 June 2021
• Sweed gave him a little yank, not even hard, on the jersey.
  — Zach Helfand, latimes.com, 13 Sep. 2017
• On the single gravel turn used at the Phoenix test track, a quick yank on the handbrake is all that’s needed to make the car turn-in.
  — Josh Jacquot, Car and Driver, 20 Oct. 2017
• Amazon is the focus of a push to curb ‘rank-and-yank’ worker ratings.
  — Laura Blasey, Los Angeles Times, 11 Jan. 2022
• The pony-tail yank was captured by the jail’s security cameras.
  — Gwen Filosa, miamiherald, 1 June 2017
• Without a word, the woman stood up and, giving a little yank at the seat of her bikini, strode off without a backward glance.
  — Haruki Murakami, The New Yorker, 13 Aug. 2020
• Her folding Ollie chair flattens with the yank of a cord, and a satisfying clack!
  — Jane Margolies, New York Times, 12 Mar. 2020
• Helping two other men who needed a third helper, an extra yank.
  — Lisa Respers France, CNN, 30 Aug. 2019
• At first the rider throws a rope around the neck of the small animal, stopping it mid-run with a forceful yank, which often tops the animal over.
  — Susanne Ruststaff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 13 Nov. 2022
• The son figured out that by stretching PTFE with a sudden yank, the polymer expanded by 1,000 percent.
  — The Salt Lake Tribune, 19 Sep. 2020
• Made from surgical grade stainless steel, the swooping design will not pull, tug, or yank at your lashes.
  — Chris Hachey, BGR, 9 June 2021
• But the company largely resisted the Internet, quick to police its copyrights and yank unauthorized versions of show footage from the web.
  — Brian McCollum, Detroit Free Press, 12 June 2020
• Detailing is excellent for the price and includes a waterproof abdomen pocket with cable port for earphones and a locking slider for unzipping with just a quick yank on the lapel.
  — Outside Online, 15 Aug. 2014
• Backpacks embedded with something called JetForce Technology can inflate with 200-liter bladders to about seven times their size at the yank of a handle to help keep avalanche victims from being buried and suffocating beneath the snow.
  — Outside Online, 11 Aug. 2014
• Robbie wisely leans into the cartoonish aspects of the character, and Yan lets her voice-over yank the timeline out of order and splashes graphics on the screen to accompany her more exaggerated affect.
  — James Grebey, Vulture, 6 Aug. 2021

Last Updated: 30 Dec 2024