- 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
"You're pricking pomposity and you're exposing hypocrisy. That's the point of satire."
From BBC ● Apr. 16, 2025
Blood obtained by pricking a baby’s heel was collected on filter paper and tested for phenylketonuria, a rare metabolic condition that, if untreated, causes intellectual disability.
From Scientific American ● Nov. 13, 2023
The researchers found that people carrying three so-called Neanderthal variants in the gene SCN9A, which is implicated in sensory neurons, are more sensitive to pain from skin pricking after prior exposure to mustard oil.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 10, 2023
The two rectangular towers in the photo are gone, replaced by one glittering tower with a pointy top pricking the sky.
From "Towers Falling" by Jewell Parker Rhodes
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.
