poke around
phrasal verb
poked around; poking around; pokes around
informal
: to look around or search through something
He poked around in his closet for something to wear to the party.
—often used figurativelyI don't want you poking around in my personal life.
Examples of poke around in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
As Will began poking around the chimney, the suspense in the room grew.
—
Ashley Vega, People.com, 21 May 2025
The emergency application asks the justices to lift a Maryland federal judge’s injunction blocking DOGE from poking around the SSA’s systems that contain personally identifiable information, including Social Security numbers, medical and mental health records, bank data, and earnings history.
—Ella Lee, The Hill, 2 May 2025
Researchers in the burgeoning subfield of mechanistic interpretability, inspired by neuroscience, instead try to understand models by opening them up and poking around inside.
—Ben Brubaker, Quanta Magazine, 30 Apr. 2025
The market for starting pitchers will be thin, and teams will poke around the Giants’ rotation, especially if some of the minor-league arms are pitching well and deserve a trial in the majors.
—Grant Brisbee, New York Times, 26 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for poke around
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.
Ashley Vega, People.com, 21 May 2025
The emergency application asks the justices to lift a Maryland federal judge’s injunction blocking DOGE from poking around the SSA’s systems that contain personally identifiable information, including Social Security numbers, medical and mental health records, bank data, and earnings history.
—Ella Lee, The Hill, 2 May 2025
Researchers in the burgeoning subfield of mechanistic interpretability, inspired by neuroscience, instead try to understand models by opening them up and poking around inside.
—Ben Brubaker, Quanta Magazine, 30 Apr. 2025
The market for starting pitchers will be thin, and teams will poke around the Giants’ rotation, especially if some of the minor-league arms are pitching well and deserve a trial in the majors.
—Grant Brisbee, New York Times, 26 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for poke around
Cite this Entry
“Poke around.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/poke%20around. Accessed 27 May. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share