Meaning & use
pull
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Meanings
verbtransitive or intransitive
To grip something and use force to move it toward yourself or along behind you.
Grammar: Often takes an object: pull the rope. Without one it needs a direction: pull hard.
Patterns
- pull something
- pull on something
- pull something out of something
She pulled the heavy door open with both hands.
The little tug pulled the barge up the river.
Pull on the cord and the light will switch on.
verbtransitive
To remove something by tugging it free from where it was fixed or growing.
Grammar: Takes an object and usually an adverb: pull out a weed, pull up the carpet.
Patterns
- pull something out
- pull something up
He pulled a tooth that had been loose for weeks.
We spent the morning pulling weeds from the flower bed.
The dentist had to pull two of her back teeth.
verbtransitiveinformal
To draw in a crowd or customers, or to attract attention or support.
Grammar: Takes an object that is people or an audience: the film pulled big crowds.
Patterns
- pull a crowd
- pull in something
The festival pulled thousands of visitors to the small town.
A famous guest star always pulls viewers.
The sale pulled in shoppers from all over the area.
verbtransitive
To injure a muscle by stretching it too far.
Grammar: Takes a muscle as its object: pull a hamstring.
Patterns
- pull a muscle
He pulled a calf muscle sprinting for the bus.
I think I pulled something in my back lifting that box.
The striker pulled his hamstring and missed the final.
nouncountable
An act of drawing something toward you with force, or the force that does so.
Grammar: Countable for an act (give it a pull); often singular for a force: the pull of gravity.
Patterns
- a pull on something
- the pull of something
One firm pull and the drawer came out.
Astronauts feel almost no pull from the Earth in orbit.
She felt a strong pull toward her home town.
Word forms
| third person singular | pulls |
|---|---|
| past tense | pulled |
| past participle | pulled |
| -ing form | pulling |
Common combinations
- pull a face
- He pulled a face when he tasted the soup.
- pull strings
- She pulled strings to get her cousin an interview.
- pull a muscle
- Warm up first or you may pull a muscle.
- pull your weight
- Everyone on the team has to pull their weight.
- pull over
- The police asked him to pull over.
- pull off
- They pulled off a surprise win.
Synonyms and how they differ
- drag
- Drag suggests pulling something heavy along the ground with effort, whereas pull can be quick and light.
- tug
- Tug means a short, sharp pull, often on something small like a sleeve.
- yank
- Yank is informal and means a sudden, hard pull, usually more violent than pull.
- haul
- Haul implies pulling or carrying something heavy over a distance, as in hauling a net.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: pull or pool?
pull vs pool
Pool is a body of water or a shared fund; it sounds similar to pull in some accents but is not related to drawing something toward you.
Practice
The old farmer asked us to ___ the weeds out of his vegetable patch before lunch.
Choose one answer.
To pull weeds means to remove them by tugging them out of the ground. Push would drive them further in, and press and pour do not fit the action.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “pull”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.