EN

Synonyms for pluck

59 synonyms
6 meanings

noun
verb

Most common

courage nerve bravery boldness pull-off plough plonk

Synonyms by meaning

Noun

1. Courage — guts, nerve, fortitude or persistence

courage, bravery, nerve, boldness, guts, spunk, grit, determination, daring, fearlessness, mettle, spirit, heart, sand, valor US, valour UK, stamina, manhood, bottle, intrepidity, resolution, hardihood, courageousness

2. Pluckiness

pluckiness, gutsiness

Other

back bone, pull-off, plough, spin, plonk

Verb

1. Pull

pull, snatch, draw, twitch, tear, jerk, displume, yerk, deplume, deplumate, yank

2. Rob

rob, hook, soak, fleece, overcharge, surcharge, gazump, plume dated

3. Pick

pick, plunk informal

4. Pick off

pick off, tweak

Other

grab, gather, crop, cull, roll, hustle, defeather

Definitions

n. 1
Guts, nerve, fortitude or persistence.
He didn't get far with the attempt, but you have to admire his pluck.
n. 2
An instance of plucking or pulling sharply.
Those tiny birds are hardly worth the tedious pluck.
v. 1
To pull something sharply; to pull something out
She plucked the phone from her bag and dialled.
v. 2
To take or remove (someone) quickly from a particular place or situation.

Related words

Word family: plucking pluckless plucky
Phrases: pluck up crow to pluck

Forms

Plural: plucks → courages, braveries, nerves, boldnesses…
Past participle: plucked
e.g. plucked → pulled, snatched, drawn, twitched…

Example sentences

courage We admired his wisdom, not to mention his courage.
nerve Sami had the nerve to look at me like I was crazy.
bravery There's a fine line between bravery and stupidity.
boldness He had the boldness to ignore the teacher's advice.
plough Better to have one plough going than two cradles.

Popularity over time

Word	1850 → 2019	Trend
pluck		rising
courage		rising
nerve		steady
bravery		rising
boldness		rising

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

By length

3 letters: rob¹
4 letters: pick¹, pull¹, draw¹, roll¹, grab¹, sand¹, spin¹, hook¹, tear¹, crop¹, jerk¹, guts¹, soak¹, grit¹
5 letters: heart¹, nerve¹, tweak¹, valor², plume¹, spunk¹, plonk, plunk¹
6 letters: spirit², bottle², gather², twitch¹, daring², hustle², snatch¹, fleece¹, plough¹, valour, mettle², gazump
7 letters: courage², bravery³, stamina³, manhood², deplume
8 letters: boldness², displume
9 letters: surcharge², hardihood, gutsiness, deplumate, defeather
10 letters: resolution⁴, overcharge³, pluckiness
11 letters: intrepidity⁵
12 letters: fearlessness
13 letters: determination⁵
14 letters: courageousness

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (valor² = 2 syllables).

In other languages

Français: plumaison