Word.ws English Dictionary

pull one's punches

pull one's punches is the alternative form of pull punches.

Meaning of pull punches

Verb

pull punches (third-person singular simple present pulls punches, present participle pulling punches, simple past and past participle pulled punches)

  1. To avoid using a high level of force when punching.
    • Traditionally on Okinawa (if 'traditionally' is the right word to use), protectors had been worn during sparring practise because the trainees believed that, to be effective, one should not train to pull punches.2017, Mark D Bishop, Zen Odyssey, An Okinawan Karate & Martial Arts Journey, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 228
  2. (figuratively) To act with reserve; especially, to word something delicately to avoid giving offense or inciting anger.
    • Near-synonym: mince words

Forms of pull one's punches

third-person singular presentpulls one's punches
present participlepulling one's punches
past participlepulled one's punches
pastpulled one's punches

Questions about pull one's punches

What is pull one's punches the alternative form of?
Pull one's punches is the alternative form of pull punches.

Words near pull one's punches in the dictionary

  1. pull one's head in
  2. pull one's horns in
  3. pull one's oar
  4. pull one's own weight
  5. pull one's pud
  6. pull one's punches
  7. pull one's socks up
  8. pull one's weight
  9. pull oneself
  10. pull oneself together
  11. pull oneself up by one's bootstraps

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: pull one's punches (page history and authors); pull punches (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-pull one's punches.ogg.

Cite this entry: “pull one's punches.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pull_one%27s_punches. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.