picket

American  

[pik-it] / ˈpɪk ɪt /

noun

• pickets
  plural

1. a post, stake, pale, or peg that is used in a fence or barrier, to fasten down a tent, etc.

2. a person stationed by a union or the like outside a factory, store, mine, etc., in order to dissuade or prevent workers or customers from entering it during a strike.

3. a person engaged in any similar demonstration, as against a government's policies or actions, before an embassy, office building, construction project, etc.

4. Military. a soldier or detachment of soldiers placed on a line forward of a position to warn against an enemy advance.

5. Navy, Air Force. an aircraft or ship performing similar sentinel duty.

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verb (used with object)

• pickets,
  present (3rd person singular)
• picketed,
  past participle,  past
• picketing
  present participle

1. to enclose within a picket fence or stockade, as for protection, imprisonment, etc..

   to picket a lawn; to picket captives.

2. to fasten or tether to a picket.

3. to place pickets in front of or around (a factory, store, mine, embassy, etc.), as during a strike or demonstration.

4. Military.

   1. to guard, as with pickets.

   2. to post as a picket.

verb (used without object)

• pickets,
  present (3rd person singular)
• picketed,
  past participle,  past
• picketing
  present participle

1. to stand or march as a picket.

picket British  

/ ˈpɪkɪt /

noun

1. a pointed stake, post, or peg that is driven into the ground to support a fence, provide a marker for surveying, etc

2. an individual or group that stands outside an establishment to make a protest, to dissuade or prevent employees or clients from entering, etc

3. Also: picquet. a small detachment of troops or warships positioned towards the enemy to give early warning of attack

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verb

1. to post or serve as pickets at (a factory, embassy, etc)

   let's go and picket the shop

2. to guard (a main body or place) by using or acting as a picket

3. (tr) to fasten (a horse or other animal) to a picket

4. (tr) to fence (an area, boundary, etc) with pickets

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• counterpicket
  noun
• picketer
  noun
• unpicketed
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• pickets
  plural

Participles

• picketing
  present
• picketed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• picket
  simple
• pickets
  simple
• have picketed
  perfect
• has picketed
  perfect
• am picketing
  progressive
• are picketing
  progressive
• is picketing
  progressive
• have been picketing
  perfect progressive
• has been picketing
  perfect progressive

Past

• picketed
  simple
• had picketed
  perfect
• was picketing
  progressive
• were picketing
  progressive
• had been picketing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will picket
  simple
• will have picketed
  perfect
• will be picketing
  progressive
• will have been picketing
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of picket

First recorded in 1680–90; from French piquet, equivalent to pike ² + -et ( def. )

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Explanation

A picket is a vertical wooden board in a fence. You might have a white picket fence enclosing your whole front yard, so your little dog can't escape. Besides the "wooden stake or strip" meaning, you can also use picket as a verb to mean "protest or strike." When disgruntled workers go on strike, they often picket outside their workplace, holding signs and chanting. You can also call one of these protesting workers a picket. The original meaning, from the 1680s, is "a pointed stake used as a defensive weapon." And the original picket line was a line of military troops.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

picket pickets picketed picketing

Members of the union in Taoyuan have "obtained the legal right to conduct a strike and establish strike picket lines", union secretary Chen Yen-kai told a news conference.

From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026

In 2023, workers accused the company of disrupting union activities, including implying workers could be dismissed for participating in a union protest and locking emergency exits on the day workers planned to picket outside.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026

You would like to get married, have 2.5 kids and buy a house with a white picket fence.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 20, 2026

Union members last week held an information picket outside a Blue Jays baseball game in Toronto to highlight a call for all work-related duties to be paid, including boarding, delays and safety checks.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026

The church is just across the street, a white picket fence setting it off from the rest of the town.

From "Dread Nation" by Justina Ireland

And unions have been printing and distributing signs, organizing pickets and mega-rallies.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 12, 2026

However, Seifert believes support they are receiving from mega pickets and other union groups could be encouraging them to continue striking.

From BBC ● Feb. 9, 2026

Despite some arrests, the authorities seem unable to prevent the pickets.

From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2025

That’s the position workers promoted this week during pickets at UCLA.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 31, 2024

“Before Alice Paul and the pickets came, days would pass when the word suffrage didn’t appear in the dispatches,” a journalist wrote in the New York Sun.

From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling

A Jerusalem cafe picketed for weeks by observant Jews said Thursday it had agreed to shut on the Sabbath, bowing to demands despite counter-protests by secular Israelis.

From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026

Less than three dozen people picketed outside of OpenAI’s offices, but the demonstration sparked a bitter feud on an effective altruist forum.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026

Because Lam was a no-show, protesters picketed outside his restaurant for 73 days.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 29, 2025

Workers picketed outside their newsroom in London to protest the proposed sale to Tortoise Media, arguing it had been “rushed through” without the support of the staff.

From New York Times ● Dec. 4, 2024

Others joined in only once or twice while on vacation; a few picketed while on their honeymoons.

From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling

Schneider faces misdemeanor charges of stalking and targeted residential picketing in American Fork and similar charges in Provo, where he went after the Bricks & Minifigs corporate offices.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026

But during the Oscars, which was produced by Quincy Jones, Goldberg, who was hosting, took a swipe at the civil rights leader who was picketing across town.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 17, 2026

The law states that it does not “prohibit any expressive conduct including peaceful picketing or other peaceful demonstration.”

From Salon ● Jan. 20, 2026

The union said it was preparing to challenge the injunction, but said it agreed to abide by the law on picketing.

From BBC ● May 31, 2025

Some said that picketing had become “little less than criminal” and called it the most outrageous of the “foolish, childish methods you have used trying to harass our overburdened president.”

From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling

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Related Words

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