pluck

American  

[pluhk] / plʌk /

verb (used with object)

• plucks,
  present (3rd person singular)
• plucked,
  past participle,  past
• plucking
  present participle

1. to pull off or out from the place of growth, as fruit, flowers, feathers, etc..

   to pluck feathers from a chicken.

2. to give a pull at; grasp.

   to pluck someone's sleeve.

   Synonyms:

   tug

3. to pull with sudden force or with a jerk.

   Synonyms:

   rip, tear, yank

4. to pull or move by force (often followed by away, off, orout ).

5. to remove the feathers, hair, etc., from by pulling.

   to pluck a chicken.

6. Slang. to rob, plunder, or fleece.

7. to sound (the strings of a musical instrument) by pulling at them with the fingers or a plectrum.

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verb (used without object)

• plucks,
  present (3rd person singular)
• plucked,
  past participle,  past
• plucking
  present participle

1. to pull or tug sharply (often followed byat ).

2. to snatch (often followed byat ).

noun

1. act of plucking; a tug.

2. the heart, liver, and lungs, especially of an animal used for food.

3. courage or resolution in the face of difficulties.

   Synonyms:

   nerve, mettle, determination, boldness, bravery

verb phrase

1. pluck up

   1. to eradicate; uproot.

   2. to summon up one's courage; rouse one's spirits.

      He always plucked up at the approach of danger. She was a stranger in the town, but, plucking up her courage, she soon made friends.

pluck British  

/ plʌk /

verb

1. (tr) to pull off (feathers, fruit, etc) from (a fowl, tree, etc)

2. to pull or tug

3. archaic (tr; foll by off, away, etc) to pull (something) forcibly or violently (from something or someone)

4. (tr) to sound (the strings) of (a musical instrument) with the fingers, a plectrum, etc

5. (tr) another word for strip 1

6. slang (tr) to fleece or swindle

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noun

1. courage, usually in the face of difficulties or hardship

2. a sudden pull or tug

3. the heart, liver, and lungs, esp of an animal used for food

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• plucker
  noun
• half-plucked
  adjective
• unplucked
  adjective
• well-plucked
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• plucking
  present
• plucked
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• pluck
  simple
• plucks
  simple
• have plucked
  perfect
• has plucked
  perfect
• am plucking
  progressive
• are plucking
  progressive
• is plucking
  progressive
• have been plucking
  perfect progressive
• has been plucking
  perfect progressive

Past

• plucked
  simple
• had plucked
  perfect
• was plucking
  progressive
• were plucking
  progressive
• had been plucking
  perfect progressive

Future

• will pluck
  simple
• will have plucked
  perfect
• will be plucking
  progressive
• will have been plucking
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of pluck

before 1000; Middle English plukken (v.), Old English pluccian, cognate with Middle Low German plucken; akin to Dutch plukken, German pflücken

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Explanation

To pluck is to pick or pull a single item out of many, like a flower or a hair. As a noun, pluck is energy or enthusiasm, even when things are looking grim. Don't pluck only the best cherries off the tree: that's cherry-picking! Before you cook a goose, you need to pluck its feathers. If it looks like your goose is cooked, however, then show some pluck, and figure out a way to save yourself. Some characters who are famous for showing pluck include the Artful Dodger, Little Orphan Annie, and Benji the dog. They all kept their chins up and kept on trying, even when things looked really dark.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pluck plucks plucked plucking

Ample low-hanging reform fruit is available for any politician who wants to pluck it.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026

She said finding the courage to contact police was difficult and it "took me a few days just to pluck up the courage".

From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2026

Pickers pluck items from shelves in a prescribed sequence while drivers double-check bagged orders before speeding off on scooters.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 23, 2026

So Levinson decided to pluck down $850 for two Category 3 tickets — among the cheapest available — for he and his wife to go the final U.S. group-play game at SoFi Stadium in June.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 14, 2026

When we had a few, we’d pluck them and boil them to eat.

From "Lost Boy, Lost Girl" by John Bul Dau

"Ants, for example, this year are only available for customers who specifically ask to try them," said Atala, whose Sao Paulo restaurant D.O.M. plucks ingredients from the Amazonian wilderness to reinterpret Indigenous traditions.

From Barron's ● Sep. 26, 2026

And it plucks a nerve in a country still scarred by its history of militarism.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 12, 2026

In each show Taylor plucks someone from the audience and gives them her hat which is a nod to the outfit she wore in the music video for her 2012 single.

From BBC ● Jun. 19, 2024

Quincy Cortez plucks at a slim black box laid across his legs, his fingers flashing silver.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 1, 2024

He plucks a few leaves from my hair.

From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton

The Brewers and Rays reached this point by using their smaller budgets to look for edges on the margins, resulting in rosters that look like they were plucked out of another era.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026

They include Bara, a male orangutan plucked from the haze on Thursday, authorities told AFP.

From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026

Picked by Aboriginals for tens of thousands of years, wattleseed, plucked from the native Acacia plants, is high in protein and traditionally roasted over an open fire and ground down to make bread.

From Salon ● Aug. 30, 2026

She was on Netflix’s “Funny AF” with Kevin Hart and was plucked to open for Chelsea Handler.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026

The robot plucked sea stars and sea urchins and sea snails from the water and dropped them into rock pools along the shore.

From "The Wild Robot Protects" by Peter Brown

Keurig Dr Pepper has hired Russ Torres as chief executive of its coffee spinoff, plucking the executive from Kimberly-Clark.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026

As the waves bashed the coast this week, boulders smashed into the piles of Mitchell Leib’s Malibu home, plucking them like a “guitar string” and shaking his house.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026

Rescue crews in helicopters have been plucking survivors from along the valleys ravaged in the tsunami-like flow of water and debris apparently unleashed by a glacier's collapse.

From Barron's ● Aug. 28, 2026

"One of my recent tricks is to find any weird chord that may intrigue me," plucking the opening notes of As You Lie There on an acoustic guitar.

From BBC ● May 27, 2026

I hurried back to the room, plucking an envelope out of my backpack.

From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo

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Related Words

• clutch
• cull
• harvest
• snatch
• strum
• yank

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