Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use prise in a sentence

11 example sentences · verb, noun

Prise means to force (open) with a lever; to pry. Example: “I think he must have been trying to prise open that box yonder when he was attacked.”

Examples of prise by meaning

verbTo force (open) with a lever; to pry.

  • I think he must have been trying to prise open that box yonder when he was attacked.1919, Sax Rohmer, The Quest of the Sacred Slipper
  • Come, force the gates with crowbars, prise them apart!c. 1925, Jack Lindsay, translation of Lysistrata
  • Most people used pliers, scissors, rubber gloves and knives to try to prise open products.2004 February 2, “'Wrap rage' hitting the over-50s”, in BBC News

verbTo extract something that is difficult to obtain.

  • prise information out of someone

More sentences with prise

  • With her pocket knife, she starts to prise the spikes from his wings.2014, Moira Young -, Raging Star, →ISBN. From the entry fergawdsake
  • Claire prised the baby from her breast so Neil could kiss the bumfluffed head, smiling her queenly, disappointed smile.2015, A. D. Miller, The Faithful Couple, →ISBN. From the entry bumfluffed
  • She chuckles, and prises another shrinking pipi from its shell.1983, Keri Hulme, The Bone People, Penguin, published 1986, page 124. From the entry pipi
  • Reluctantly Raj used his fingernail to prise away the bogie he had long since sneezed up there and popped it in his mouth.2012, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Ratburger, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN. From the entry bogie
  • Some mornings when the tide was right out we went onto the reef with screwdrivers to prise off abalone, which we called muttonfish.1993, Tim Winton, Land's Edge, Picador, published 2014, page 28. From the entry muttonfish
  • He prised a skep from its stool and held it out, inverted, showing the dirty wreck of combs, with the vile grubs spinning their cocoons.1977, Patrick O'Brian, The Mauritius Command. From the entry skep
  • I am going to feed you to the children,” rasped Burt, his laugh rattling around his throat, prising Dad’s fingers one by one off his apron.2012, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Ratburger, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN. From the entry rasp

Meaning of prise

  1. verb To force (open) with a lever; to pry.
  2. verb To extract something that is difficult to obtain.
  3. noun An enterprise or adventure.

Full definition of prise

Questions about prise in a sentence

How do you use prise in a sentence?
Prise is used as a verb and noun. For example: “I think he must have been trying to prise open that box yonder when he was attacked.”
What is a short sentence with prise?
“prise information out of someone”
What does prise mean?
Prise means to force (open) with a lever; to pry.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: prise (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.

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