as in to play (on or upon)
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Recent Examples of jerk around
And that’s not even taking into consideration the continual jerking around of Busy Philipps.
—
Bethy Squires, Vulture, 18 July 2025
He was locked up to be a franchise player, and franchise players aren’t typically jerked around like that.
—Grant Brisbee, New York Times, 18 June 2025
The vehicles are tricked out with surround sound, too; and at one point on our joyride the bus was jerked around by the bus driver to simulate the sensation of a subway speeding underfoot.
—Patricia Marx, New Yorker, 5 May 2025
The shocking news out of this summer’s Olympic break-dancing competition in Paris wasn’t that a female Australian competitor had hopped and jerked around like Uma Thurman being revived from a drug coma in Pulp Fiction.
—Christian Schneider, National Review, 24 Oct. 2024
Jaden Ivey, Detroit Pistons Category: Starter to star After a year where the former lottery pick was jerked around in regard to minutes, role, and even on-court responsibilities, Ivey is now set to enter his third year, finally with some stability attached to his name.
—Morten Stig Jensen, Forbes, 17 Sep. 2024
For a population like Gaza’s, there’s not enough food, people have been jerked around from place to place.
—Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, 8 May 2024
The guy in the center seat where the stringer was tied off noticed it was being jerked around.
—Idaho Statesman, 2 Mar. 2016
Bethy Squires, Vulture, 18 July 2025
He was locked up to be a franchise player, and franchise players aren’t typically jerked around like that.
—Grant Brisbee, New York Times, 18 June 2025
The vehicles are tricked out with surround sound, too; and at one point on our joyride the bus was jerked around by the bus driver to simulate the sensation of a subway speeding underfoot.
—Patricia Marx, New Yorker, 5 May 2025
The shocking news out of this summer’s Olympic break-dancing competition in Paris wasn’t that a female Australian competitor had hopped and jerked around like Uma Thurman being revived from a drug coma in Pulp Fiction.
—Christian Schneider, National Review, 24 Oct. 2024
Jaden Ivey, Detroit Pistons Category: Starter to star After a year where the former lottery pick was jerked around in regard to minutes, role, and even on-court responsibilities, Ivey is now set to enter his third year, finally with some stability attached to his name.
—Morten Stig Jensen, Forbes, 17 Sep. 2024
For a population like Gaza’s, there’s not enough food, people have been jerked around from place to place.
—Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, 8 May 2024
The guy in the center seat where the stringer was tied off noticed it was being jerked around.
—Idaho Statesman, 2 Mar. 2016
Recent Examples of Synonyms for jerk around
Verb
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Because Atlas reads web pages, malicious websites can manipulate it by hiding instructions in their code – a technique called prompt injection.—
The AI Insider,
Interesting Engineering,
27 Oct. 2025
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Young’s ability to manipulate the pocket with his quickness and improvisational skills has helped keep the Panthers’ sack count low.—
Mike Kaye,
Charlotte Observer,
27 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Cousin, who is CEO of FSF Ventures, a nonprofit focused on sustainable food business models, believes investments like AI will help spur productivity in land already used for cultivation.—
Nino Paoli,
Fortune,
28 Oct. 2025
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One post on the platform included a screenshot of a season 4 scene where Will uses a conversation about Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) to reveal his true feelings for Mike.—
Angel Saunders,
PEOPLE,
28 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Prosecutors said Floyd was also convicted of pimping a minor older than 16 years old, two counts of taking the girl’s money from prostitution and two counts of pandering by encouraging the prostitution.—
Rosalio Ahumada,
Sacbee.com,
21 Oct. 2025
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First there’s the obvious: Suga Free’s flows, cascading like water over desert rock in the Inland Empire; the cartoon anecdotes from a life spent pimping in Pomona; the most varied and virtuosic group of DJ Quik beats ever assembled.—
Pitchfork,
Pitchfork,
30 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Advertisement Leading labs are already increasingly leveraging AI systems to accelerate their own research and development (R&D) pipelines, by designing new algorithms, proposing entirely new architectures or optimizing code.—
Yoshua Bengio,
Time,
22 Oct. 2025
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To this end, the firm leveraged its own talents and art departments for the campaigns and aims to further boost the appeal of the products by encouraging their use in models’ off-duty moments.—
Sandra Salibian,
Footwear News,
22 Oct. 2025
Verb
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They are mistreated, raped, killed.—
Karl Ove Knausgaard,
New Yorker,
21 Oct. 2025
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There have been multiple reports of children being mistreated during enforcement operations.—
Billal Rahman,
MSNBC Newsweek,
21 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Duffy has said that air traffic controllers who abuse their sick time during the shutdown could be fired.—
Preston Fore,
Fortune,
25 Oct. 2025
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He is accused of luring a young girl into his van parked in the church’s parking lot or to the church’s basement to abuse the girl over and over during a seven-year period, according to the release.—
Ryanne Mena,
Oc Register,
25 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Jerk around.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/jerk%20around. Accessed 30 Oct. 2025.
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