How to Use pluck in a Sentence

pluck

1 of 2 verb
Definition of plucknext
Synonyms for plucknext
  • The hunter plucked the bird's feathers.
  • He plucked a stone out of the river.
  • Firefighters plucked the child from the top floor of the burning building.
  • My sister plucked a white hair from my head.
  • He'd been plucked from obscurity and thrust into the national spotlight.
  • This time, Franklin didn’t quite reach back and pluck it out of the air.
    — Mike Finger, San Antonio Express-News, 16 Dec. 2022
  • Woodcock are best plucked and cooked with the skin on to hold in the fat.
    — Matthew Every, Field & Stream, 18 Oct. 2023
  • The characters feel like they’ve been plucked from a book of archetypes.
    — Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter, 1 Nov. 2023
  • You get plucked out of your little bubble and whisked across the world.
    — Andy Greene, Rolling Stone, 8 Mar. 2024
  • Rescuers plucked dozens of people from the water or the shore.
    — Holly Yan, CNN, 11 Aug. 2023
  • Once the hair finally breaks free, resist the urge to pluck or shave it.
    — Maddy Zollo Rusbosin, Women's Health, 28 Feb. 2023
  • Or, the Mountain West’s top brands could be plucked away to join the current Pac-12 lineup.
    — The Salt Lake Tribune, 7 Aug. 2023
  • When plucked, their broken stems well up with milky droplets.
    — Jacey Fortin Mike Belleme, New York Times, 21 Oct. 2023
  • Was this one of the hens that had pecked my hand or plucked feathers from the pink rump of another?
    — Hazlitt, 14 Feb. 2024
  • The result is a stall that looks plucked from Tampopo and planted on the Bowery.
    — Abe Beame, Essence, 20 Dec. 2023
  • Seafood is plucked from the sea and served up fresh and all-you-can-pick blueberry farms dot the landscape.
    — Evie Carrick, Travel + Leisure, 5 Mar. 2024
  • The Aztecs won’t be plucking another QB out of the portal.
    — Kirk Kenney, San Diego Union-Tribune, 16 Mar. 2024
  • For the show’s first few episodes, the music choices were simply plucked from his own iPod.
    — Brian Hiatt, Rolling Stone, 25 Dec. 2023
  • There may be no available route for Scalise to pluck off the necessary votes to win.
    — Chad Pergram, Fox News, 12 Oct. 2023
  • There is no farm to go pluck any more Cy Young winners from with less than three weeks in the season.
    — Evan Grant, Dallas News, 13 Sep. 2023
  • The sight of the pup being plucked from the river made some people emotional.
    — Brooke Baitinger, Miami Herald, 26 Jan. 2024
  • That old clip had begun with Doty plucking a pole from a trash bin.
    — Lauren Smiley, WIRED, 7 Nov. 2023
  • Whether they’re plucked from a chicken or saved from a wild turkey, giblets can be used in all sorts of ways.
    — Matthew Every, Field & Stream, 22 Nov. 2023
  • His lungs and larynx were plucked out, placed in an urn, and kept in Missolonghi.
    — Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 26 Feb. 2024
  • In general, puddle ducks should be plucked, leaving the skin on the meat.
    — Katie Hill, Outdoor Life, 17 Aug. 2023
  • But do not pluck, wax, or groom the area with any treatment that removes the hair follicle from the root.
    — Leah Campano, Seventeen, 21 Mar. 2023
  • The priest didn’t just pluck a brown-skinned baby from the pews every winter to play Jesus.
    — Taylor Harris, Time, 13 Dec. 2022
  • For the coach to pluck that first five-star guard out of Georgia only makes the signing all the more impressive.
    — Ryan Kartje, Los Angeles Times, 16 Nov. 2022
  • They were plucked out of the water by a Polish man, and survived the war by hiding in the countryside.
    — Masha Gessen, The New Yorker, 9 Dec. 2023
  • Each holds a tantalizing apple, plucked from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
    — Christopher Knight, Los Angeles Times, 18 Jan. 2024
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pluck

2 of 2 noun
  • It takes pluck to do what she did.
  • She showed pluck in getting up on stage.
  • But the trend doesn’t pluck at the heartstrings of all.
    — Meredith Goldstein, BostonGlobe.com, 18 June 2018
  • That the Seahawks hung with the 49ers to the absolute end is a tribute to their pluck.
    — Scott Ostler, SFChronicle.com, 29 Dec. 2019
  • Egrets and herons pluck meals from the shoreline and fly by on their way to nesting islands.
    — Ben Abramson, USA TODAY, 25 Oct. 2017
  • Pick these golden-hued plants by hand and get a fistful of joy with each pluck.
    — Country Living, 22 Mar. 2023
  • Hand-pluck coarse texture out of the brow to see more skin throughout and to get the brow to appear more feathered.
    — Jennet Jusu, Allure, 16 Feb. 2022
  • This was not just a matter of courage, pluck, and fortitude.
    — Razib Khan, National Review, 31 July 2021
  • Lue’s players tell it, that pluck stemmed as much from him as despair.
    — New York Times, 25 June 2021
  • His mother, instead, plucks and offers a large grape from the vine.
    — Erica Hellerstein, The Mercury News, 24 Aug. 2019
  • About the Baltic states, there are many things to be admired, including their pluck.
    — Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 17 Sep. 2021
  • Pluck apart owl pellets to discover what the prey tells us about the predators.
    — Kathy Bennett, The Mercury News, 22 Mar. 2017
  • Ricky Powell oozed vintage New York City charm and pluck.
    — Amanda Rosa, New York Times, 4 Feb. 2021
  • The tweezer feels strong and durable when holding it, and it can be used lightly and still get quite a few hairs with each pluck.
    — Madison Yauger, Peoplemag, 3 Mar. 2023
  • The idea of cutting off all that life, all that growth and pluck, just for a better view of clapboard, sickened us.
    — Peg Rosen, The Christian Science Monitor, 17 May 2021
  • My muscles, which had tensed the second before the pluck, relaxed.
    — ELLE, 28 Apr. 2022
  • But with enough pluck and gumption, plus money and genius, it can be done.
    — The Washington Post, al.com, 19 June 2019
  • The real story is one of pork pies, warm beer and gritty working-class pluck.
    — Gerard Degroot, Washington Post, 28 Feb. 2020
  • Some of that pluck was lost when Torey Krug departed as a free agent two seasons ago for St. Louis.
    — Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 21 July 2022
  • Pan, impressed by Fosse’s dancing skill no less than his pluck, told him to go ahead.
    — John Check, WSJ, 16 Mar. 2018
  • Beyond making sure the case itself is the proper size for your bow, look for a case with ample pluck foam.
    — The Editors, Outdoor Life, 1 Dec. 2020
  • Landy Hite was not in terrific voice opening night -- but talk about pluck.
    — Lee Williams, OregonLive.com, 23 Apr. 2018
  • Child services pluck Loquareeous out of his house and place him in foster care.
    — Darren Franich, EW.com, 23 Mar. 2022
  • But over eight hour-long episodes, that youthful pluck starts to seem less like a reason to doubt him than a reason to believe in him.
    — Angie Han, The Hollywood Reporter, 31 Aug. 2023
  • The cut-to-fit foam of some models like the protector holds guns even more securely than pluck-to-fit foam does.
    — Phil Bourjaily, Field & Stream, 17 Jan. 2023
  • Where a 15 seed, with just the right amount of pluck and a few breaks, can become basketball royalty overnight.
    — Sean Keeler, The Denver Post, 15 Mar. 2020
  • Mathew Barzal, whose lack of pluck resulted in but one shot attempt over his 16:24 in ice time.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 31 May 2021
  • All their stories illuminate the strength, pluck and deep sense of obligation to do the right thing.
    — WSJ, 12 Dec. 2017
  • No one this cycle has set foot on a debate stage, and there’s a decent shot that Trump will skip the first debate on Aug. 23 just to prove his pluck.
    — Philip Elliott, Time, 31 July 2023
  • The oxpecker birds of Africa pluck ticks and other insects off large mammals—and then slurp blood from their hosts’ sores.
    — Brigit Katz, Smithsonian, 2 Dec. 2019

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'pluck.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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