1
as in pried
to draw out by force or with effort
the boy wrested the book out of his sister's hands
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
3
4
as in pulled
to move by or as if by a forceful rotation
I need a strong arm to wrest the lid off this pickle jar
Synonyms & Similar Words
5
as in grabbed
to separate or remove by forceful pulling
wrested open the stuck door of the cabinet
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of wrested
In 2024, OpenAI announced plans to convert into a for-profit company, which would have wrested control from the nonprofit and kept it as a separate arm.
—
Ashley Capoot, CNBC, 8 Jan. 2026
At her funeral, mourners wrested her casket from the official pallbearers and carried it aloft through the streets of Cairo, to her burial place.
—Sam Kashner, Air Mail, 27 Dec. 2025
Gary Neal and his partners wrested control of Windwave from its nonprofit parent and sold it to themselves, hiding insider knowledge of lucrative deals with Amazon to keep the price low.
—Sean Patrick Cooper, Rolling Stone, 24 Nov. 2025
Hamas wrested power from the more secular and internationally recognized Fatah party in 2007 after winning legislative elections the previous year.
—Matt Bradley, NBC news, 21 Oct. 2025
Christian music star Amy Grant and her cousin, Andy Burton, have successfully wrested control of a valuable downtown church property.
—Liam Adams, Nashville Tennessean, 8 Oct. 2025
No existing rival has wrested market share from Google.
—Julia Shapero, The Hill, 2 Sep. 2025
In 1968, Palestinians resurrected an independence movement that wrested decision making away from Egypt and other Arab countries that had been humiliated in the Six-Day War.
—Hussein Ibish, The Atlantic, 20 Aug. 2025
But still, the record is a spiritual victory, full of wisdom wrested from audible pain.
—Ew Staff Published, EW.com, 14 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for wrested
Verb
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Firefighters pried part of the home open with an axe to douse the inside with water, the video shows.—
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The manager of a rental car company who reported the vehicle stolen believed the lockbox containing the keys had been pried open, and said two other vehicles were stolen from the same garage.—
Verb
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By the following year, the FBI had recovered millions of dollars extorted from Colonial Pipeline by Darkside.—
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This man just could not stop getting extorted, which is not ideal for anyone but is especially unpleasant for the head of MI5.—
Verb
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Snow is also coming off of a performance in Netflix's The Beast in Me, which earned a Golden Globes nod in the Best Television Limited Series, Anthology Series, or Motion Picture Made for Television category, as well as two other nominations for performances by leads Matthew Rhys and Claire Danes.—
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On the television side, popular shows like The Pitt, and The Studio won big at the Golden Globes, with Noah Wyle winning for his dramatic performance in the medical series, while Seth Rogen earned a Globe for his work in the streaming comedy.—
Verb
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Chicago pulled within 21-16 on D'Andre Swift's 5-yard run early in the fourth quarter.—
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The slightly oversized cut offers comfort for long travel days, while looking pulled-together.—
Verb
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Javonte Green missed a potential tying 3-point try and Paul Reed grabbed the rebound, but committed Detroit's 25th turnover.—
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Carolyn Collins scored 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, while Mya Korpal had 15 points as Winchester came back to defeat Reading 54-53 in Middlesex League play.—
Verb
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Officer Alex Millan then yanked open the passenger door of the suspects’ car; at the same time, the car drove forward over the curb.—
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Furious too that anyone could think the defender had deliberately yanked the striker’s hair.—
Verb
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The Panthers squeezed a few end-of-career seasons out of guys such as Dino Ciccarelli and Igor Larionov.—
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Steamer or Iron When squeezed into a small suitcase, clothes have a tendency to wrinkle.—
Verb
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And Ahmed al-Ahmed, who came to Australia from Syria in 2006, a former policeman who now owns a fruit stand at Bondi Beach, tackled one of the gunmen and wrenched the rifle from him, even as he was wounded himself.—
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Sirens wailed and gunshots rang out as the two men grappled for several seconds, before Ahmed wrenched the gun from the attacker’s hands.—
Cite this Entry
“Wrested.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/wrested. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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