Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use purse in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun, verb

Purse means a small bag for carrying money. Example: “She clutched her purse tightly and walked nervously into the building.”

Examples of purse by meaning

nounA handbag (small bag usually used by women for carrying various small personal items).

  • Master leathercrafter does handcrafted wallets, belts, purses, handbags etc., supporting self and helpers.1987 August 15, Robert Benitez, “Personal advertisement”, in Gay Community News, volume 15, number 5, page 14

nounA quantity of money given for a particular purpose.

  • It was a historic and a hefty battle when Myler and Percy were scheduled to don the gloves for the purse of fifty sovereigns.1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[[Episode 12: The Cyclops]]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC

verbTo press (one's lips) in and together so that they protrude.

  • Anton Ivanovich pursed up his lower lip so that his grey moustache pressed against the tip of his red pitted nose, took in all the officials with his rounded eyes, and after an unavoidable pause emitted a fat unctuous laugh.1916, Leonid Andreyev, “An Original”, in W. H. Lowe, transl., The Little Angel and Other Stories, New York: Alfred Knopf, page 85
  • The semantic motivation would be the fact that Aborigines typically indicate direction by pointing with pursed lips (in circumstances where Europeans would extend a hand or index finger).2002, R.M.W. Dixon, chapter 9, in Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development, Cambridge University Press, published 2004, page 403

More sentences with purse

  • She clutched her purse tightly and walked nervously into the building.From the entry clutch
  • The money made a chinky sound as I shook the purse.From the entry chinky
  • She carried a vest-pocket copy of the New Testament in her purse at all times.From the entry vest-pocket
  • Clean out your purse and at least get rid of all the trash you're hauling around.From the entry clean out
  • There are too many sticky fingers around for me to leave my purse unattended.From the entry sticky fingers
  • Airport security looked through her purse and confiscated her nail scissors.From the entry look through
  • She put up a fight when the mugger tried to steal her purse.From the entry put up a fight
  • Money in the public purse should be spent in the public interest.From the entry public purse
  • She fished in her purse for more quarters but came up short.From the entry come up short
  • The expensive purse was a bad buy.From the entry bad
  • The purse is handmade and hence very expensive.From the entry hence
  • She wore a fashionable outfit with matching purse and shoes.From the entry outfit
  • Three purse snatchings in the park were reported this week.From the entry snatching
  • She rummaged her purse in search of the keys.From the entry rummage
  • That filthy man stole my fluffing purse!From the entry fluffing
  • If you were not in such an all-fire hurry to get out of there, you would not have forgotten your purse.From the entry all-fire
  • A mermaid's purse is a type of egg case.From the entry egg case
  • The thief was running with the purse in his hands.From the entry run with
  • She pulled a frogskin wallet out of her purse.From the entry frogskin
  • He took a ride to Tyburn for stealing that purse.From the entry take a ride to Tyburn
  • Congress has the power of the purse and can choose not to pay for a Presidential policy with which they disagree.From the entry power of the purse
  • Someone has just snatched my purse!From the entry snatch
  • The purpose of a value-added tax is to harness a portion of the added value in a commercial value chain and apply it to the public purse.From the entry added value
  • There were jeans, purses, athletic shoes, electronics, and a myriad of other items.2025 January 22, Nancy Hoffman, “Not Quite Right: Something is not as it should be”, in Substack. From the entry NQR
  • He pursed his lips, went to the cash register, and opened it.2019, Vincent Zandri, chapter 2, in The Caretaker’s Wife, Hoboken, N.J.: Polis Books, →ISBN. From the entry benjamin
  • We have just got to cut our cloth to suit the purse.2019 August 15, “Gisborne Herald chief reporter to stand for council”, in Gisborne Herald. From the entry cut one's cloth to suit one's purse
  • I was one of those women today, a girl looking for a purse puppy.2017, Kelly Collins, Set Up: The Second Chance Series, →ISBN. From the entry purse puppy
  • I grab my coat, purse, and keys and hightail it out the front door.2016, Lyla Payne, Not Quite Right, page 173. From the entry trucking
  • If you're too afraid to do that, just shove it into your jail purse.2016, Willam Belli, Suck Less: Where There's a Willam, There's a Way. From the entry jail purse
  • Gestures ranged from pursed lips to clenched fists and finger pointing.2016 February 7, Nick Clark, “Manual Labours: The Complaining Body: Exhibition explores the fine arts of moaning and listening”, in The…. From the entry finger pointing
  • Everyone online was buzzing about this purse, but no one could get one.2015, Jen Jones [i.e., Jennifer Lynn Jones], chapter 1, in The New Ashley (Sleepover Girls), North Mankato, Minn.: Capstone Young Readers…. From the entry skull and crossbones
  • The classy trend of kneeing a man in his coin purse once seemed fresh.2013 January 24, “A brief history of movie characters getting whacked in the balls”, in Westword, Denver, Colorado. From the entry coin purse
  • Oh, but she has a purse — must not be a dyke.2013, Mara Hollis, Talking Donkeys and Smashing Babies, page 43. From the entry dyky
  • Regina quickly set Serena onto the floor and spoke baby jabber to the cherished purse puppy.2012, Nancy Mangano, Murder Can Be Messy, →ISBN, page 132. From the entry purse puppy
  • Did she go with yous?' Finn pursed her lips in surprise.2011, Alan Warner, The Stars in the Bright Sky, →ISBN, page 80. From the entry miss oneself
  • From deep inside my purse, my cell phone tweedled the opening bars of “Start Me Up.”2010, Carolyn J. Rose, Mike Nettleton, Sometimes a Great Commotion. From the entry tweedle

Meaning of purse

  1. noun A small bag for carrying money.
  2. noun A handbag (small bag usually used by women for carrying various small personal items).
  3. noun A quantity of money given for a particular purpose.

Full definition of purse

Questions about purse in a sentence

How do you use purse in a sentence?
Purse is used as a noun and verb. For example: “She clutched her purse tightly and walked nervously into the building.”
What is a short sentence with purse?
“Someone has just snatched my purse!”
What does purse mean?
Purse means a small bag for carrying money.

Source and license

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