picket line

Meaning

1. 1nouncountable

   A group of workers standing outside a workplace during a strike, or the boundary they form.

   Grammar: Countable: a picket line, the picket line, picket lines.

   Patterns

   • cross a picket line
   • on the picket line
   • join a picket line

   The miners formed a picket line at the factory gate.

   She refused to cross the picket line and stayed home.

   Police kept the two sides apart along the picket line.

Word forms

Common combinations

cross a picket line

Some workers crossed the picket line to enter the building.

on the picket line

He spent the morning on the picket line with his colleagues.

join a picket line

Teachers from other schools joined the picket line in support.

set up a picket line

The union set up a picket line outside the main entrance.

Synonyms and how they differ

picket

A picket is a single person or the group; a picket line is the line or barrier they form.

strike

A strike is the whole work stoppage; the picket line is the physical presence outside the workplace.

Word family

picket verb

To stand outside a workplace as a protest.

picket noun

A person who takes part in a picket.

Commonly confused: picket line or picket fence?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “picket line”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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