"pincer" meaning in English

See pincer in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˈpɪnsəɹ/ Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-pincer.wav Forms: pincers [plural]
Rhymes: -ɪnsə(ɹ) Etymology: From Middle English pynsor, from Old French pinceure, pinchure, from pincier (“to pinch”). Etymology templates: {{inh|en|enm|pynsor}} Middle English pynsor, {{der|en|fro|pinceure}} Old French pinceure Head templates: {{en-noun}} pincer (plural pincers)
  1. Any object that resembles one half of a pair of pincers. Derived forms: pincer attack, pincer gate, pincer movement
    Sense id: en-pincer-en-noun-RGh7GWCZ Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 3 entries, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 91 9 Disambiguation of Pages with 3 entries: 60 11 8 8 8 6 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 73 7 5 5 5 4
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: pincher (english: dated or eggcorn)

Verb

IPA: /ˈpɪnsəɹ/ Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-pincer.wav Forms: pincers [present, singular, third-person], pincering [participle, present], pincered [participle, past], pincered [past]
Rhymes: -ɪnsə(ɹ) Etymology: From Middle English pynsor, from Old French pinceure, pinchure, from pincier (“to pinch”). Etymology templates: {{inh|en|enm|pynsor}} Middle English pynsor, {{der|en|fro|pinceure}} Old French pinceure Head templates: {{en-verb}} pincer (third-person singular simple present pincers, present participle pincering, simple past and past participle pincered)
  1. (transitive, sometimes figurative) To surround with a pincer attack. Tags: figuratively, sometimes, transitive
    Sense id: en-pincer-en-verb-JL5bJyMX
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: pincher (english: dated or eggcorn)

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

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          "_dis": "91 9",
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          "word": "pincer attack"
        },
        {
          "word": "pincer gate"
        },
        {
          "word": "pincer movement"
        }
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        "Any object that resembles one half of a pair of pincers."
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      "links": [
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    },
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      "word": "pincher"
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  "forms": [
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      "form": "pincering",
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        "present"
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    },
    {
      "form": "pincered",
      "tags": [
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        "past"
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      "form": "pincered",
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        "past"
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1984, Robert Lamb, Competitive Strategic Management, page 115:",
          "text": "After considering all frontal counteroffensive alternatives, Heublein rejected them as detrimental to its profits and came up with a brilliant pincering maneuver. It raised the price of Smirnoff by one dollar, effectively preventing segment diffusion, […]",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2004, Rex Weyler, Greenpeace:",
          "text": "The minesweeper and the sea tug now came along either side, pincered the Vega, and seemed to be ushering it toward Moruroa, perhaps attempting to push the ketch inside the 12-mile limit.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To surround with a pincer attack."
      ],
      "id": "en-pincer-en-verb-JL5bJyMX",
      "links": [
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          "surround"
        ],
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          "pincer attack",
          "pincer attack"
        ]
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        "(transitive, sometimes figurative) To surround with a pincer attack."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively",
        "sometimes",
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
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      "ipa": "/ˈpɪnsəɹ/"
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    {
      "word": "pincer gate"
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      "word": "pincer movement"
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        "Any object that resembles one half of a pair of pincers."
      ],
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      ]
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  ],
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      "tags": [
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      "form": "pincering",
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        "participle",
        "present"
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      "form": "pincered",
      "tags": [
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        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pincered",
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
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        "English transitive verbs",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1984, Robert Lamb, Competitive Strategic Management, page 115:",
          "text": "After considering all frontal counteroffensive alternatives, Heublein rejected them as detrimental to its profits and came up with a brilliant pincering maneuver. It raised the price of Smirnoff by one dollar, effectively preventing segment diffusion, […]",
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        {
          "ref": "2004, Rex Weyler, Greenpeace:",
          "text": "The minesweeper and the sea tug now came along either side, pincered the Vega, and seemed to be ushering it toward Moruroa, perhaps attempting to push the ketch inside the 12-mile limit.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
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        "To surround with a pincer attack."
      ],
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          "surround"
        ],
        [
          "pincer attack",
          "pincer attack"
        ]
      ],
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        "(transitive, sometimes figurative) To surround with a pincer attack."
      ],
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        "sometimes",
        "transitive"
      ]
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    },
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      "rhymes": "-ɪnsə(ɹ)"
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  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "english": "dated or eggcorn",
      "word": "pincher"
    }
  ],
  "word": "pincer"
}

Download raw JSONL data for pincer meaning in English (4.3kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-01 using wiktextract (eaedd02 and 8fbd9e8). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.