prick up one's ears

phrase

Definition of prick up one's earsnext
as in listen
to pay attention especially through the act of hearing He pricked up his ears when he heard us discussing pizza for dinner.

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Thesaurus Entries Near prick up one's ears

pricks up one's ears

prick up one's ears

pride

See More Nearby Entries 

Cite this Entry

“Prick up one's ears.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/prick%20up%20one%27s%20ears. Accessed 5 Nov. 2024.

Copy Citation

Share

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See All

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)

Plural and Possessive Names: A Guide

The Difference Between 'i.e.' and 'e.g.'

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?
See All

Popular in Wordplay

See All

What does 'at large' mean?

Terroir, Oenophile, & Magnum: Ten Words About Wine

8 Words for Lesser-Known Musical Instruments

Birds Say the Darndest Things

10 Words from Taylor Swift Songs (Merriam's Version)
See All

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Word Game Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
dog-hard-hat-hammer
Odd Jobs Quiz Work smarter, not harder, to figure out these occ...