Word.ws English Dictionary

picks up the pieces

picks up the pieces is the third-person singular simple present indicative of pick up the pieces.

Meaning of pick up the pieces

Verb

pick up the pieces (third-person singular simple present picks up the pieces, present participle picking up the pieces, simple past and past participle picked up the pieces)

  1. (idiomatic, intransitive) To restore one's life (or a given situation etc.) to a normal state, after a calamity, shock etc.
    • Picking up the pieces after the Suez disaster, the British found themselves getting used to the idea that they are not as big a power as they thought they were.1957 January 14, “Roberts' Rules of Order”, in Time Magazine

Questions about picks up the pieces

What is picks up the pieces the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Picks up the pieces is the third-person singular simple present indicative of pick up the pieces.

Words near picks up the pieces in the dictionary

  1. picks up stitches
  2. picks up the ball and runs with it
  3. picks up the mantle
  4. picks up the pace
  5. picks up the phone
  6. picks up the pieces
  7. picks up the slack
  8. picks up the tab
  9. picks up the threads
  10. picks up the threads of
  11. picks up what someone is laying down

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: picks up the pieces (page history and authors); pick up the pieces (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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