How to use pluck in a sentence

40 example sentences · verb, noun

Pluck means to pull something sharply; to pull something out. Example: “She plucked the phone from her bag and dialled.”

Examples of pluck by meaning

verbTo pull something sharply; to pull something out.

She plucked the phone from her bag and dialled.
The girl stooped to pluck a rose, and as she bent over it, her profile was clearly outlined.1900, Charles W[addell] Chesnutt, chapter I, in The House Behind the Cedars, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company...
You only get one shot at this, and if I pluck a date from the air, you will judge me by it.2020 December 2, Andy Byford talks to Paul Clifton, “I enjoy really big challenges...”, in Rail, page 53

verbTo play (a single string on a musical instrument) by pulling and then releasing it, such as on a guitar.

Whereas a piano strikes the string, a harpsichord plucks it.

verbTo play a string instrument pizzicato.

Plucking a bow instrument may cause a string to break.

verbTo pull or twitch sharply.

to pluck at somebody's sleeve

verbTo reject (a student) after they fail an examination for a degree.

Griffin was plucked.1916, James Joyce, chapter V, in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, New York, N.Y.: B[enjamin] W. Huebsch, →OCLC

nounAn instance of plucking or pulling sharply.

Those tiny birds are hardly worth the tedious pluck.
This may be from a friend who will give you a pluck off the wall, or you may be able to manage from your own resources.2006, Tom Cunliffe, Complete Yachtmaster, page 40

nounGuts, nerve, fortitude or persistence.

He didn't get far with the attempt, but you have to admire his pluck.

More sentences with pluck

He plucked up the courage to tell her how he felt.From the entry courage
She was plucked from obscurity to star in a Broadway musical.From the entry obscurity
The International Society of Canine Cosmetologists says, "Ear plucking may cause pathology.2023 January 10, Conner, Daryl, Ear Plucking - Times Have Changed!. From the entry ear plucking
Not so close it felt like she could pluck a star out and take a bite.2022, Julie Abe, Alliana, Girl of Dragons, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, →ISBN. From the entry anmitsu
Cranston plucked at the ganache, the over-robe Bohun wore, tied round the middle with a ribbon.2020, Paul Doherty, The House of Shadows, Canelo, →ISBN. From the entry ganache
He peeled children off the floor when they roiled in frustration and plucked cats from the furniture.2019, Vita Murrow, High-Five to the Hero, page 78. From the entry roil
I pluck a mug from the cabinet and add the cream and sugar as the coffee percolates.2018, Josie Brown, “Hard News”, in The Housewife Assassin’s Fourth Estate Sale, San Francisco, Calif.: Signal Press Books, →ISBN. From the entry pryanik
I saw a girl swiftly climbing a tree to pluck kafals.2015, Chandra Prakash Kala, Nanda's Neelkanth, page 53. From the entry kafal
You pluck a goose while it yet lives, then you butter and lard it well.2015, Penelope Wilcock, chapter 5, in The Beautiful Thread (The Hawk & the Dove Series), Oxford, Oxfordshire: Lion Fiction, Lion Hudson…. From the entry spignel
Like a skill crane with stuffed animals, Scottie squeezed tight, plucking the balls from the dirt.2015 June 18, Brad Meltzer, The President's Shadow: The Culper Ring Trilogy 3, Hachette UK, →ISBN, page 29. From the entry skill crane
It was going to take muscle to pluck Miss Agnes out of the canal.2013, John D. MacDonald, The Long Lavender Look, page 15. From the entry muscle
Word to the wise: if you must tweeze solo, stick to plucking only the obvious stray hairs.2012 November 16, Adriana Ermter, “How to get the perfect eyebrows: Four reasons to enlist a professional”, in Chatelaine. From the entry tweeze
She can cut her hair short using the kitchen scissors and pluck her eyebrows away to nothing.2009, Shane Watson, How to Meet a Man After Forty and Other Midlife Dilemmas Solved. From the entry Bo Peep dress
What’s this?” He reached forward and plucked a coin from behind Toby’s ear.2008, Elizabeth Joy Arnold, Promise the Moon, New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books, →ISBN, page 364. From the entry earwaxy
Tunes with titles like “Mazurka Maracaibo” shimmer with countless plucked strings.2007 July 15, Jon Pareles, “Sounds Dire, Droll, Dreamy and on the Edge of Kitsch”, in New York Times. From the entry slidey
FERDINAND: Sire, bend thou down thine aged frame And do thou smartly pluck it up again.2007, Michael Frayn, Collected Columns, page 46. From the entry misfinger
She lifted her perfectly plucked eyebrows in my direction as if to say, "Come closer.2006, Mary Hogan, Susanna Sees Stars, Delacorte Press, page 14. From the entry Britneyesque
The crime scene unit was all over the apartment, photographing, luminoling, vacuuming, plucking with tweezers.2004, John Lutz, Darker Than Night, page 13. From the entry luminol
It happens to be a poor attempt, since apes, tyrannosaurs, and plucked chickens are also featherless bipeds.1996, Steven W. Horst, “Causal and Stipulative Definitions of Semantic Terms”, in Symbols, Computation, and Intentionality: A Critique of…. From the entry featherless biped
The hand slid down the schuss of material and plucked at the hem.1992, Will Self, Cock and Bull. From the entry schuss
He plucked a few blades of grass and sucked them, tasting dirt and fertilizer and lime.1987, Joseph Monninger, Second Season, page 142. From the entry take a knee
He grew thin and ribby, with narrow shoulders and a breast like a plucked chicken.1982, TC Boyle, Water Music, Penguin, published 2006, page 215. From the entry ribby
Ann had plucked a twig of forsythia, and was trying to arrange it in her hair.1981 April 25, Andrea Loewenstein, “Voicens In The Night”, in Gay Community News, page 13. From the entry forsythia
Brush them, they are more important than you realise, and keep the underbrow well plucked and tidy.1975, Country Life - Volume 157, page 1018. From the entry underbrow
“Back east, eh?” Jogi plucked a rolly bug from a grape.1957, Vinnie Williams, The Fruit Tramp. From the entry rolly
Stooping, he plucked a blade of grass and ran it zingingly through his very white teeth.1952, Edward Francis Murphy, chapter 1, in Yankee Priest, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, page 43. From the entry zingingly
The first fellow that picked an herb to cure himself had a bit of pluck.1922 February 2, James Joyce, Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC. From the entry simple
Hardly knowing what he meant, she plucked a many-headed specimen with a long stalk.1913, Greville MacDonald, “The Twins Write a Letter and Get New Shoes”, in Jack & Jill: A Fairy Story, London: J[oseph] M[alaby] Dent &…. From the entry shining
Tarp Henry, my companion, was plucking at my skirts and I heard him whispering, "Sit down, Malone!1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC. From the entry skirt
He made a garden—sowed a seed— But we have plucked the flowers!1906, The Independent, page 1024. From the entry weedman

Meaning of pluck

verb To pull something sharply; to pull something out.
verb To take or remove (someone) quickly from a particular place or situation.
verb To play (a single string on a musical instrument) by pulling and then releasing it, such as on a guitar.

Full definition of pluck

Questions about pluck in a sentence

How do you use pluck in a sentence?: Pluck is used as a verb and noun. For example: “She plucked the phone from her bag and dialled.”
What is a short sentence with pluck?: “Griffin was plucked.”
What does pluck mean?: Pluck means to pull something sharply; to pull something out.

Adapted from Wiktionary: pluck (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 pluck in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/pluck. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.