- present participle of prick.
pricking
AmericanEtymology
Origin of pricking
before 1000; Middle English; Old English pricung; see prick, -ing 1
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.
That’s where it started when I was pricking that bubble of comedians who think they’re changing the world.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 27, 2025
It is only then, once you are still, that a now low, whipping wind, riddled with sand begins pricking and abrading your skin and collecting in the pages of your novel; it is intolerable.
From Salon ● Apr. 25, 2025
The authors found that the three variants were associated with a lower pain threshold in response to skin pricking after prior exposure to mustard oil, but not in response to heat or pressure.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 10, 2023
The current gold standard test—only conducted in specialized allergy clinics—involves pricking the skin and injecting a small amount of penicillin.
From Scientific American ● Oct. 5, 2023
He could almost feel the quills pricking through his jeans into his leg.
From "Fablehaven" by Brandon Mull
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.
