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View synonyms for pincers

pincers

[ pin-serz ]

noun

, (usually used with a plural verb)
  1. a gripping tool consisting of two pivoted limbs forming a pair of jaws and a pair of handles (usually used with pair of ).
  2. Zoology. a grasping organ or pair of organs resembling this, as the claw of a lobster.


pincers

/ ˈpɪnsəz /

plural noun

  1. Also calledpair of pincers a gripping tool consisting of two hinged arms with handles at one end and, at the other, curved bevelled jaws that close on the workpiece: used esp for extracting nails
  2. the pair or pairs of jointed grasping appendages in lobsters and certain other arthropods
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

pincers

/ pĭnsərz /

  1. A jointed grasping claw of certain animals, such as lobsters and scorpions.
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Word History and Origins

Origin of pincers1

1300–50; Middle English pinsers, earlier pynceours, plural of *pinceour < Anglo-French pince ( r ) to pinch + -our -or 2
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Word History and Origins

Origin of pincers1

C14: from Old French pinceour, from Old French pincier to pinch
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Example Sentences

Troops advanced in a pincers movement, attacking from the southwest and northeast, reaching at times the two roads.

As Russian pincers were closing on the city, a presidential aide warned last week that the military could “strategically pull back” if needed.

They return with pincers gripping dead young ants to feed the settlement.

I pressed my sleeve against my cut cheek until the throbbing pain spread like red-hot pincers, twisting into the flesh and burrowing deeper.

Mr. Gorbachev soon found himself caught between the pincers of established glasnost and delayed perestroika.

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pincer movementpincers movement