What does "pluck" mean?
An instance of plucking or pulling sharply.
Pluck
/plʌk/ noun, verb, slang
noun, verb, slang ·Very common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: An instance of plucking or pulling sharply.
- Grammar: pluck is listed as noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: accumulate, amass, assemble, avulse.
- Useful contrasts: bow, bows, cowardice.
- Usage evidence: Or would I were a little burnish'd apple For you to pluck me, gliding by so cold, While sun and shade your robe of lawn will dapple, Your robe of lawn, and your hair's spun gold.
How to use "pluck"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "pluck" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "pluck" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "pluck" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "pluck" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "pluck" is acting as noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "accumulate" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "pluck", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 An instance of plucking or pulling sharply. countable, uncountable
"Those tiny birds are hardly worth the tedious pluck."
- 2 the act of pulling and releasing a taut cord wordnet
- 3 The lungs, heart with trachea and often oesophagus removed from slaughtered animals. countable, uncountable
- 4 the trait of showing courage and determination in spite of possible loss or injury wordnet
- 5 Guts, nerve, fortitude or persistence. figuratively, informal, uncountable
"He didn't get far with the attempt, but you have to admire his pluck."
Show 1 more definition
- 6 Cheap wine. slang, uncountable
Verb
- 1 To pull something sharply; to pull something out transitive
"She plucked the phone from her bag and dialled."
- 2 look for and gather wordnet
- 3 To take or remove (someone) quickly from a particular place or situation. transitive
"First of all, he says a lot of the promotions from the ranks are promotions of the sons of officers who have gone wrong , or got "plucked," or what not, and who are brought up again along another road for commissioned rank."
- 4 strip of feathers wordnet
- 5 To play (a single string on a musical instrument) by pulling and then releasing it, such as on a guitar. transitive
"Whereas a piano strikes the string, a harpsichord plucks it."
Show 10 more definitions
- 6 pull lightly but sharply with a plucking motion wordnet
- 7 To remove feathers from (a bird). transitive
"Molly the dairymaid came a little way from the rickyard, and said she would pluck the pigeon that very night after work. She was always ready to do anything for us boys; and we could never quite make out why they scolded her so for an idle hussy indoors. It seemed so unjust."
- 8 pull or pull out sharply wordnet
- 9 To rob, steal from; to cheat or swindle (someone). archaic, transitive
"Indeed they seem to consider foreigners as strangers whom they should never see again, and might fairly pluck."
- 10 rip off; ask an unreasonable price wordnet
- 11 To play a string instrument pizzicato. transitive
"Plucking a bow instrument may cause a string to break."
- 12 sell something to or obtain something from by energetic and especially underhanded activity wordnet
- 13 To pull or twitch sharply. intransitive
"to pluck at somebody's sleeve"
- 14 To reject (a student) after they fail an examination for a degree. UK, obsolete, transitive
"For arguing that a man will be plucked take the Topics following: for among men likely to be plucked are these for the most part. He that hath no friends, he that hath many friends; the first because he hath none to put him in the right way; the second, because he hath many to draw him therefrom."
- 15 Of a glacier: to transport individual pieces of bedrock by means of gradual erosion through freezing and thawing.
Example
"Or would I were a little burnish'd apple For you to pluck me, gliding by so cold, While sun and shade your robe of lawn will dapple, Your robe of lawn, and your hair's spun gold."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "pluck"?
Common synonyms include: accumulate, amass, assemble, avulse, backbone, balls.
How do you use "pluck" in a sentence?
Or would I were a little burnish'd apple For you to pluck me, gliding by so cold, While sun and shade your robe of lawn will dapple, Your robe of lawn, and your hair's spun gold.
How do you pronounce "pluck"?
Pronounced /plʌk/.
Etymology
From Middle English plucken, plukken, plockien, from Old English pluccian, ploccian (“to pluck, pull away, tear”), also Old English plyċċan ("to pluck, pull, snatch; pluck with desire"), from Proto-West Germanic *plukkōn, from Proto-Germanic *plukkōną, *plukkijaną (“to pluck”), of uncertain and disputed origin. Perhaps related to Old English pullian (“to pull, draw; pluck off; snatch”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian plukje (“to pluck”), West Frisian plôkje (“to pick, pluck”), Dutch plukken (“to pluck”), Limburgish plógte (“to pluck”), Low German plukken (“to pluck”), German pflücken (“to pluck, pick”), Danish and Norwegian plukke (“to pick”), Swedish plocka (“to pick, pluck, cull”), Icelandic plokka, plukka (“to pluck, pull”). More at pull. An alternative etymology suggests Proto-Germanic *plukkōną, *plukkijaną may have been borrowed from an assumed Vulgar Latin *pilūc(i)cāre, a derivative of Latin pilāre (“deprive of hair, make bald, depilate”), from pilus (“hair”). The Oxford English Dictionary, however, finds difficulties with this and cites gaps in historical evidence. The noun sense of "heart, liver, and lights of an animal" comes from it being plucked out of the carcass after the animal is killed; the sense of "fortitude, boldness" derives from this meaning, originally being a boxing slang denoting a prize-ring, with semantic development from "heart", the symbol of courage, to "fortitude, boldness".