prying

American  

[prahy-ing] / ˈpraɪ ɪŋ /

adjective

1. that pries; looking or searching curiously.

2. impertinently or unnecessarily curious or inquisitive.

   Synonyms:

   nosy

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Related Words

See curious.

Other Word Forms

• pryingly
  adverb
• pryingness
  noun
• unprying
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of prying

First recorded in 1950–55; pry ¹ + -ing ²

Explanation

Someone who's prying has a tendency to snoop into other people's private business. You may notice your prying neighbor peeking through his curtains whenever you have company. It's human nature to be curious, but when curiosity is taken too far, it's prying. Any crime or disaster is inevitably followed by crowds of prying reporters; and you might grow used to hiding your diary from the prying eyes of your little sister. Prying and its root, pry, come from prien, "to peer in," which may trace back to the Old English bepriwan, "to wink."

Example Sentences

Prying it loose may not be easy, but I have a few strategies to get your refund quickly.

From Seattle Times • May 1, 2023

Prying them apart is a cinch and the pistachios inside the shell are meaty and substantial.

From Salon • Apr. 10, 2023

Prying the lid off an archival box recently, Bevan pulled out a mailbag from the Zenobia, a merchant ship captured while sailing from France to New York during the War of 1812.

From New York Times • Mar. 9, 2023

Prying market share away from Nvidia has been a challenge as many AI researchers and companies have been accustomed to using Nvidia’s software platform CUDA.

From Reuters • May 10, 2022

Prying him away from his job hunt wouldn’t be easy, so I couldn’t waste what would probably be only one opportunity to help him.

From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas