How to Use pull at in a Sentence

pull at

phrasal verb
  • What Might Go Wrong The plug could be pulled at any second.
    K.c. Colwell, Car and Driver, 9 May 2023
  • This one was more comfortable [with] less pull at the bust.
    Rachel Simon, Travel + Leisure, 24 May 2023
  • With your own duvet, there's no reason to pull at and steal the other.
    Halee Miller, Better Homes & Gardens, 2 Jan. 2024
  • The coyote keeps biting and pulling at the fawn while the doe spins around kicking and stomping at it.
    Sage Marshall, Field & Stream, 5 July 2023
  • But when his father raised the rifle to shoot, the boy had pulled at his arm, trying to stop him, and the shot missed the deer’s heart.
    Kate Dicamillo, Harper's Magazine, 9 Nov. 2022
  • No more having to bend over to pull at pesky roots thanks to the clawed weeder’s 39-inch handle.
    Gabriela Izquierdo, Better Homes & Gardens, 12 May 2023
  • The agent is seen roughly pulling at the dog's leash, at times yanking hard enough that the dog's front paws are lifted from the floor.
    Miriam Marini, USA TODAY, 9 May 2023
  • The boy is laughing and pulling at balloons that line the hotel's entrance.
    Madeline Mitchell, The Enquirer, 7 June 2024
  • The proud dad later pulled at his daughter's hat and leaned in again, playing with Zhuri.
    Hannah Sacks, Peoplemag, 18 Dec. 2023
  • But it was pulled at the last minute with no explanation.
    Patrick Frater, Variety, 30 Apr. 2023
  • Sergei Bobrovsky was pulled at the same time Fleury left, allowing four goals on 15 shots.
    Colby Guy, USA TODAY, 20 Jan. 2024
  • Keep in mind that this hitch is effective when the load is pulled at a right angle to the attachment point.
    Craig Caudill, Field & Stream, 12 July 2023
  • The seal pulls at one of the octopus’s arms before surfacing to catch its breath.
    Aspen Pflughoeft, Miami Herald, 29 Jan. 2024
  • Rescuers managed to pull at least 104 survivors out of the water.
    Harold Maass, The Week, 15 June 2023
  • Glass: Glass massagers are easy to clean and have a low chance of pulling at or irritating your skin.
    Isabella Ubaldi, Health, 20 Mar. 2024
  • In one corner, a muscular white-and-brown mutt pulled at a chain leash, baring sharp teeth.
    Jorge C. Carrasco, New York Times, 30 May 2024
  • The first is to test your dog's skin elasticity: gently pull at the skin behind your dog's neck.
    Brenna Gauchat, The Arizona Republic, 1 May 2024
  • That vibe has pulled at least one celebrity — John Mayer, who moved into the fifth-floor duplex in 2005.
    Adriane Quinlan, Curbed, 13 Jan. 2023
  • Giannuzzi, who didn’t look good on any of the three goals, was pulled at this point, having to go to the bench ending his game and career.
    Dylan Bumbarger, oregonlive, 22 Apr. 2023
  • The bra cami is slightly fitted but never pulls at your side or bust area.
    Taylor Lane, Flow Space, 12 July 2024
  • Whatever pulls at your heartstrings, give it your best shot.
    Tarot Astrologers, Chicago Tribune, 7 July 2023
  • One woman, a sweatshirt tied around her waist, pulled at the retractable leash of her German shepherd.
    Lizzie Johnson and Lauren Tierney, Anchorage Daily News, 27 July 2023
  • These codes won’t be around forever and are often pulled at short notice.
    Sponsored Content, The Mercury News, 19 Jan. 2024
  • In imagining the scene, Graves writes that the grieving widow, Livia, had hidden an eagle in a cage at the top of the pyre, to be freed by a string pulled at the right moment.
    Mary Beard, The New Yorker, 26 June 2023
  • Non-verbal cues, like grunting to poop or pulling at their diaper.
    Jessica Booth, Parents, 23 June 2023
  • Even before someone set fire to a child’s gravestone in a historic Black cemetery in Georgetown, that slab of stone pulled at strangers.
    Theresa Vargas, Washington Post, 19 July 2023
  • This paddle brush is big enough to detangle your whole head in just a few swipes, without breaking off your ends or pulling at your scalp.
    Tatjana Freund, ELLE, 27 June 2023
  • The Islamic Republic has in many ways accelerated the very trends that pulled at the seams of the monarchy.
    Laura Secor, Foreign Affairs, 6 Dec. 2013
  • Video of the skirmish, where the far-right protesters pushed and pulled at each other, quickly spread across social media.
    Donie O'Sullivan, CNN, 20 Nov. 2023
  • Or perhaps the thing that's pulling at our heartstrings is the beauty of science and the spirit of exploration exemplified by the team at NASA who put this together.
    Debby Wolfinsohn, EW.com, 16 July 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'pull at.' 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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