How to use pinch in a sentence

40 example sentences · verb, noun

Pinch means to squeeze a small amount of a person's skin and flesh, making it hurt. Example: “The children were scolded for pinching each other.”

Examples of pinch by meaning

verbTo squeeze a small amount of a person's skin and flesh, making it hurt.

The children were scolded for pinching each other.
This shoe pinches my foot.

verbTo squeeze between the thumb and forefinger.

With the other hand he pinched it at the opposite corner, pressing thumb and forefinger together tightly.2014, Harlan Ellison, Paingod and Other Delusions, →ISBN

verbTo squeeze between two objects.

Since the resistance of the channel is inversely proportional to its width, the most resistive region is the one pinched between the gates where they come closest to each other.2012, Supriyo Bandyopadhyay, Physics of Nanostructured Solid State Devices, →ISBN, page 446

verbTo steal, usually something inconsequential.

Someone has pinched my handkerchief!
“Hey, blokes,” yelled Dean or perhaps Serge, “let's pinch a boat.”1966 March, Thomas Pynchon, chapter 3, in The Crying of Lot 49, New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books, published November 1976, →ISBN, page 37
Then, as the Sunderland fans' cheers bellowed around the stadium, United's title bid was over when it became apparent City had pinched a last-gasp winner to seal their first title in 44 years.2012 May 13, Alistair Magowan, “Sunderland 0-1 Man Utd”, in BBC Sport

verbTo cramp; to straiten; to oppress; to starve.

to be pinched for money
The Christian also spurns the pinched and mumping sick-room attitude, and the lives of saints are full of a kind of callousness to diseased conditions of body which probably no other human records show.1902, William James, “Lecture 2”, in The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature […] , New York, N.Y.; London: Longmans...

nounA close compression of anything with the fingers.

I gave the leather of the sofa a pinch, gauging the texture.

nounA small amount of powder or granules, such that the amount could be held between fingertip and thumb tip.

Mix about four cups of white flour with a pinch of salt.

nounThe narrow part connecting the two bulbs of an hourglass.

It looked like an hourglass, but all those little glittering shapes tumbling through the pinch were seconds.2001, Terry Pratchett, Thief of Time

More sentences with pinch

Wow, did you see her deck that guy who pinched her?From the entry deck
I’ll be sending a pinch hitter to do the presentation because I have the flu.From the entry pinch hitter
Jones drove in a run with a pinch hit for Smith in the sixth.From the entry pinch hit
Working-class families are feeling the pinch in the wake of the recession.From the entry feel the pinch
A pinch and a punch for the first of the month, and no returns!From the entry no returns
Excuse me, Miss, Donny's been pinching my pencils again.From the entry miss
It's not a great fashion statement, but in a pinch a large trash bag will keep you dry.From the entry in a pinch
Take anything he tells you with a pinch of salt: he's an inveterate liar and mixes truth with his fiction liberally.From the entry pinch of salt
But the pinch of the game had not arrived yet.From the entry pinch of the game
A pinch of salt in this dish wouldn't go astray.From the entry go astray
An oxbow lake is a crescent-shaped lake formed near a flat-valleyed river when one of its meanders becomes pinched off and isolated.From the entry valleyed
And, if your dish becomes too sweet, simply balance it out with a pinch of salt.2024 October 17, “How to Make Soup Less Spicy”, in campbellsoup.co.uk, archived from the original on 09 Dec 2025. From the entry balance out
This year the Tigers are using pinch hitters 72 percent more often than the league average.2023 May 26, Cody Stavenhagen, “A.J. Hinch is managing with confidence as the Tigers hang tight in the AL Central”, in The New York Times…. From the entry pinch hitter
In general, the technique resulted in faster healing, less car formation, and less contracture than pinch grafting.2022, Lindsey Fitzharris, The Facemaker, page 149. From the entry contracture
Not the usual 'made in China' junk you pinch from shipping containers.2017, Rusty Barnes, Ridgerunner. From the entry made in China
Nearly every building was draped, no matter whether its occupants were pinched or prosperous.2015, Kathryn Canavan, Lincoln's Final Hours: Conspiracy, Terror, and the Assassination of America's Greatest President, University Press…. From the entry secesh
As the choy sum loses its water, add the chili and a good pinch of salt.2013, Fuchsia Dunlop, “Stir-fried chopped choy sum”, in Every Grain of Rice: Simple Chinese Home Cooking, W. W. Norton & Company, →ISBN…. From the entry choy sum
“It was you who said you wanted to grab his face and pinch his honest little cheekies.”2013, Paul Swenson, Slapped!: A Novel Based On a True Story, AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 369. From the entry cheekie
Then she reached out and pinched my cheek hard—the cheek on my face.2011 October 4, Patricia Briggs, “In Red, with Pearls”, in George R[aymond] R[ichard] Martin, Gardner Dozois, editors, Down These Strange…. From the entry cinnamon bun
Even the defencemen, most of whom are smart, mobile puckhandlers, pinch in more often.2009 April 7, Paul Hunter, “Devils aim to exorcise demons”, in Toronto Star. From the entry puckhandler
First, I made a puki, a tool used by Native Americans to form a pinch pot.2007, Suzanne J. E. Tourtillott, The Figure in Clay, →ISBN, page 80. From the entry puki
Won’t pinch or pull like normal lash-curlers, and the curl will last all day.2006 October 26, Danica Lo, “A Pretty Penny – Does a $20 Dryer Beat One for $275? Our Beauty Battle”, in New York Post, New York, N.Y.…. From the entry lash-curler
Of course, sometimes the hairdryer treatment can be taken with a pinch of salt.2004, Gaynor Morgan, The Real David Beckham: An Intimate Biography, John Blake, →ISBN, page 52. From the entry hairdryer treatment
Alternatively, you can pinch them upward like a ruffled pie crust edge.2002, Georgia Sargeant, Celie Fago, Livia McRee, Polymer Clay, →ISBN, page 33. From the entry stick together
Despite your jogging and the hairiness of your legs, the shoe of aging is beginning to pinch.2000, Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin, page 372. From the entry testicle
Since the eggbutt rings are fixed they cannot pinch the side of the face or lips.1995, Vanessa Britton, The Complete Tack Guide. From the entry eggbutt
“Icky baby shutty-uppy or Leda pinch her icky botty.” Baby June screamed suddenly.1983, Molly Keane, “Bedtime”, in Time After Time, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, published 1984, →ISBN, page 41. From the entry shutty uppy
He received a punch a few minute ago, and now he is being pinched.1981, Parliamentary Debates, New Zealand. Parliament. House of Representatives, page 3112. From the entry pinch and a punch for the first of the month

Meaning of pinch

verb To squeeze a small amount of a person's skin and flesh, making it hurt.
verb To squeeze between the thumb and forefinger.
verb To squeeze between two objects.

Full definition of pinch

Questions about pinch in a sentence

How do you use pinch in a sentence?: Pinch is used as a verb and noun. For example: “The children were scolded for pinching each other.”
What is a short sentence with pinch?: “Someone has pinched my handkerchief!”
What does pinch mean?: Pinch means to squeeze a small amount of a person's skin and flesh, making it hurt.

Adapted from Wiktionary: pinch (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use pinch in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/pinch. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.