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• pull-off
  pull-off

  noun

  an act of pulling off.
• pull off
  pull off

  verb

  to remove (clothing) forcefully

pull-off

American  

[pool-awf, -of] / ˈpʊlˌɔf, -ˌɒf /

noun

1. an act of pulling off.

   The inn is well worth a pull-off from the Interstate.

2. a rest area at the side of a road where vehicles may park.

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pull off British  

verb

1. to remove (clothing) forcefully

2. (adverb) to succeed in performing (a difficult feat)

3. (intr) (of a motor vehicle, driver, etc) to move to the side of the road and stop

4. (intr) (of a motor vehicle, driver, etc) to start to move

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pull off Idioms  

1. Accomplish, bring off, especially in the face of difficulties or at the last minute. For example, I never thought we'd ever stage this play, but somehow we pulled it off. [Colloquial; second half of 1800s]

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Etymology

Origin of pull-off

First recorded in 1855–60; noun use of verb phrase pull off

Example Sentences

The Detroit-based auto maker has managed to pull off a surprising trick.

From Barron's • Jun. 18, 2026

His deal with SpaceX will likely be much tricker to pull off: It depends on the “establishment of a permanent human colony on Mars with at least 1 million inhabitants.”

From MarketWatch • Jun. 12, 2026

“I think the pressure will be on Mexico because they’re the hosts. That gives us a real opportunity to pull off an upset.”

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 9, 2026

Hackers are likely to try and trick Mythos into answering these questions, despite Anthropic’s controls—a process known as jailbreaking—but the company says it has done extensive testing to make that harder to pull off.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 9, 2026

The delay gave General Washington a chance to pull off a miracle.

From I Survived the American Revolution, 1776 by Lauren Tarshis

Related Words

• achieve
• bring off
• manage