picket
Americannoun
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pickets
plural
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a post, stake, pale, or peg that is used in a fence or barrier, to fasten down a tent, etc.
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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.
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a person engaged in any similar demonstration, as against a government's policies or actions, before an embassy, office building, construction project, etc.
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Military. a soldier or detachment of soldiers placed on a line forward of a position to warn against an enemy advance.
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Navy, Air Force. an aircraft or ship performing similar sentinel duty.
verb (used with object)
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pickets,
present (3rd person singular)
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picketed,
past participle, past
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picketing
present participle
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to enclose within a picket fence or stockade, as for protection, imprisonment, etc..
to picket a lawn; to picket captives.
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to fasten or tether to a picket.
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to place pickets in front of or around (a factory, store, mine, embassy, etc.), as during a strike or demonstration.
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Military.
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to guard, as with pickets.
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to post as a picket.
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verb (used without object)
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pickets,
present (3rd person singular)
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picketed,
past participle, past
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picketing
present participle
noun
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a pointed stake, post, or peg that is driven into the ground to support a fence, provide a marker for surveying, etc
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an individual or group that stands outside an establishment to make a protest, to dissuade or prevent employees or clients from entering, etc
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Also: picquet. a small detachment of troops or warships positioned towards the enemy to give early warning of attack
verb
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to post or serve as pickets at (a factory, embassy, etc)
let's go and picket the shop
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to guard (a main body or place) by using or acting as a picket
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(tr) to fasten (a horse or other animal) to a picket
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(tr) to fence (an area, boundary, etc) with pickets
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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picketsimple
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picketssimple
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have picketedperfect
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has picketedperfect
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am picketingprogressive
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are picketingprogressive
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is picketingprogressive
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have been picketingperfect progressive
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has been picketingperfect progressive
Past
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picketedsimple
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had picketedperfect
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was picketingprogressive
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were picketingprogressive
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had been picketingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of picket
First recorded in 1680–90; from French piquet, equivalent to pike 2 + -et ( def. )
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.
Vocabulary lists containing picket
The Watsons Go to Birmingham
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"Tinker v. Des Moines": Excerpts from Justice Black's Dissenting Opinion
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This Week in Words: September 14–20, 2019
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Owning a house with a white picket fence?
From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026
Here people sell, picket, preach, protest, dine, sit and sleep.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 18, 2026
The RMT said its previous strike on Tuesday "was strongly supported by RMT members with well attended picket lines at Tube stations and depots".
From BBC ● Jun. 4, 2026
As for your question, I’m on both sides of the picket fence; I see why your daughter is upset, and I also understand why you are willing to help your daughter.
From MarketWatch ● May 12, 2026
He was forever painting his house and the white picket fence in front of it.
From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
And unions have been printing and distributing signs, organizing pickets and mega-rallies.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 12, 2026
Collections were said to have been disrupted "due to industrial action by pickets" where police recently scaled down their presence.
From BBC ● May 24, 2025
A West Midlands Police spokesperson said officers were still sent to pickets but did not explain why they reduced the number while the city council said it was warned of the move just hours beforehand.
From BBC ● May 16, 2025
The performers union, SAG-AFTRA, hosted two Halloween pickets on Tuesday, “Double, Double, Toil and Trouble!” at Netflix and “Spooky Solidarity Day” at the Warner Bros. studio lot in Burbank.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2023
That seemed excessive, to have them confined to short pickets for all that time.
From This Side of Wild by Gary Paulsen
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
They picketed with placards reading, “Real Mail Not Email!”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 10, 2025
Outside a Disney Character Voices office earlier this month, dozens of actors picketed against video game companies for refusing to come to an agreement on using AI in video games.
From BBC ● Mar. 31, 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
The women who picketed were committed to the cause and proud of what they were doing.
From "1919 The Year That Changed America" by Martin W. Sandler
Richard Scandaliato, president of San Pedro’s South Shores Community Assn., said the reversal was “unbelievable” after months of near-weekly picketing and hundreds of letters that neighbors wrote to state officials.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026
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 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
He and his people were out there, marching, demonstrating, picketing, putting pressure on the government.
From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
