wrest

verb

ˈrest How to pronounce wrest (audio)
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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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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
as in to pull
to move by or as if by a forceful rotation I need a strong arm to wrest the lid off this pickle jar

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

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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 If New England somehow wrests the divison away from Buffalo, Vrabel gets serious consideration. — Darren Cooper, Forbes.com, 28 July 2026 North Carolina lawmakers attempted to wrest control of the facility from Charlotte last decade due to concerns of meddling by the city. — Dj Simmons july 27, Charlotte Observer, 27 July 2026 In this case, the production company Embassy Pictures wrested control of Crimewave away from Raimi after a challenging shoot, leading the director to disavow the film. — David Canfield, HollywoodReporter, 22 July 2026 The Smithsonian Institution, which oversees twenty-one museums, among other establishments, operates independently from the executive branch of the government, which makes wresting control over it more difficult. — News Desk, Artforum, 15 July 2026 See All Example Sentences for wrest
Recent Examples of Synonyms for wrest
  1. pull
  2. extort
  3. earn
  4. tug
  5. grab
  6. extract
  7. squeeze
  8. obtain
Verb
  • One of the resources pulled was the Pedestrian and Bicycle Crash Analysis Tool, which was designed to capture information on cars, bicycles, and pedestrians, according to the outlet.
    — Ingrid Vasquez, PEOPLE, 3 Sep. 2026
  • Moreno had previously put the club up for sale in August 2022 before pulling the team off the market five months later.
    — Fabian Ardaya, New York Times, 2 Sep. 2026
Definition of pull
Verb
  • Some cyber criminals may be trying to extort money from a victim.
    — Steve Sadin, Chicago Tribune, 28 Aug. 2026
  • Clement later successfully extorted one of Roshanki’s friends for $5,000 in drug proceeds, then insisted that Roshanski owed him money for drugs and fraud.
    — Nate Gartrell, Mercury News, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of extort
Verb
  • Some soldiers distinguished themselves by helping to render emergency trauma response and first aid to civilians, earning individual service commendations, according to the Arkansas National Guard.
    — Neal Earley, Arkansas Online, 29 Aug. 2026
  • On Monday, those five writers — also DSA-LA members — panned the idea of an endorsement, saying Raman hasn’t earned it.
    — Sandra McDonald, Los Angeles Times, 29 Aug. 2026
Definition of earn
Verb
  • The late night host tugged at her sleeve cutout to get a look at the ink.
    — Bailey Bujnosek, InStyle, 27 Aug. 2026
  • The seas have been kind, or at least kinder than expected, to SpaceX's Starship spacecraft, as it's been tugged through the Indian Ocean to friendlier tides.
    — Josh Dinner, Space.com, 18 Aug. 2026
Definition of tug
Verb
  • Mishka Wilonski had just grabbed pizza from a nearby shop and was walking outside with a friend when the crash happened.
    — Angel Saunders, PEOPLE, 1 Sep. 2026
  • Michael grabbed him, rushed out of the house, and blew through several red lights on the way to the hospital.
    — Ruby Cramer, New Yorker, 31 Aug. 2026
Definition of grab
Verb
  • Huge investments are needed to extract the rich resources in Venezuela, whose oil output remains at a fraction of its capacity due to decades of mismanagement, lack of investment and sanctions.
    — Anniek Bao,Spencer Kimball, CNBC, 1 Sep. 2026
  • Hyosung’s Bio-BDO is manufactured by fermenting sugars extracted from sugarcane.
    — Angela Velasquez, Footwear News, 1 Sep. 2026
Definition of extract
Verb
  • The Middle East war and the resulting shipping disruption through the Strait of Hormuz drove up global commodity costs, further squeezing Beijing's own appetite for commodity imports.
    — Anniek Bao, CNBC, 3 Sep. 2026
  • Independent designers, once a discovery engine, were being squeezed, while the biggest brands put more investment into their own stores, creating a dichotomy in experiences that Bron felt was palpable.
    — Hilary Milnes, Vogue, 3 Sep. 2026
Definition of squeeze
Verb
  • According to the police documents obtained by Law & Crime, Weatherall, 22, ordered a Lyft ride to an apartment complex in Greenville.
    — Toria Sheffield, PEOPLE, 30 Aug. 2026
  • After obtaining the suspect's name and descriptions of both the man and his vehicle, DeLong cleared the call.
    — Thao Nguyen, USA Today, 30 Aug. 2026
Definition of obtain

Browse Nearby Words

wrenching
wrest
wrested
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Cite this Entry

“Wrest.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/wrest. Accessed 5 Sep. 2026.

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