POKING Synonyms: 219 Similar and Opposite Words

poking 1 of 2

adjective

as in leisurely

moving or proceeding at less than the normal, desirable, or required speed the poking pace of the repair work has put everything way behind schedule

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

poking

2 of 2

verb

present participle of poke

as in protruding

to extend outward beyond a usual point saw his head poking through the window

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as in messing

to interest oneself in what is not one's concern told him to stop poking into other people's business

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as in lingering

to move or act slowly just poked around all morning and didn't accomplish much

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as in dragging

to move slowly they were just poking along home

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of poking

Verb

Sometimes only the tips of the reeds and the seed heads were visible, poking above the murky water, and other times the reeds stood fully exposed, with a clear view of crabs clambering around their bases. — Literary Hub, 28 Sep. 2026 Video posted to social media showed one car nearly submerged, with just its sunroof poking above the water, as people moved other vehicles farther from the rising tides. — Leah Willingham, Los Angeles Times, 26 Sep. 2026 One of the most iconic fall looks is a pair of tall boots with a knit sock poking over the top. — Mia Huelsbeck, PEOPLE, 18 Sep. 2026 And in those text messages, the fiancé, Richard Falor, appears to be poking holes in her story in the days following Park's disappearance. — Andrea May Sahouri, Freep.com, 18 Sep. 2026 Even Watford’s mascot got involved, standing behind one of the goalposts ahead of the game and poking its head out with a binocular gesture. — ABC News, 17 Sep. 2026 Traditionally, there’s this rendering of hell as a dark cave with fire, and there’s the devil with a pitchfork poking everybody with it. — Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 9 Sep. 2026 With the help of Nollet, Anderson’s hair was blown and teased away from her forehead, with tinges of pink poking through. — Kaleigh Werner, Footwear News, 9 Sep. 2026 Polymarket dropped him like a hot potato, though, once the CFTC began poking into his suspicious Kalshi bets. — Frank Landymore, Futurism, 2 Sep. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for poking

Adjective

Guests can choose to grab a smoothie and pastry to go or enjoy a leisurely breakfast of bacon and egg sammys on brioche buns or a forest mushroom and goat cheese omelet.

— Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 6 Oct. 2026
For the next 20 minutes, Hutzler flies at a leisurely 35 mph (56 kph) above the expansive fields around Pueblo, a city near the Front Range mountains.

— ABC News, ABC News, 3 Oct. 2026

Definition of leisurely

Verb

The 10-month-old boy had a deep puncture wound in his upper chest area, while the 3-year-old girl had an inner organ protruding out of a chest-area wound.

— Matthew Ablon, CBS News, 6 Oct. 2026
When a switch is at rest, a protruding piece of the plastic stem keeps the switch’s two leaves from making contact.

— ArsTechnica, ArsTechnica, 5 Oct. 2026

Definition of protruding

Verb

With their feelings for each other blossoming, the two go out for dinner, which is full of Rushville patrons with lingering hatred for Hal.

— Jordan Moreau, Variety, 5 Oct. 2026
But even in a crowd of MAGA-hat-toting Republican voters who took a day off school and work to attend a political rally, there was some lingering skepticism about Donalds at the top of the ticket.

— Claire Heddles, Miami Herald, 1 Oct. 2026

Definition of lingering

Verb

But an owners representative claims that part of the problem was Erica and Peter dragging their feet on providing backup documents for their application package.

— Matthew Sedacca, Curbed, 8 Oct. 2026
Another video shows two men beating and dragging a man into a car.

— Milena Malaver, Miami Herald, 6 Oct. 2026

Definition of dragging

Verb

If this is the players insisting on this alignment, or ownership interfering in roster mechanics, this Oilers team is headed for disaster.

— Allan Mitchell, New York Times, 3 Oct. 2026
The terms of the restraining order will bar Gupta and his gallery from interfering at all with Longcraft’s interest in the works.

— News Desk, Artforum, 2 Oct. 2026

Definition of interfering

Verb

Researchers have developed a paper-thin foot membrane that lets crawling microrobots harvest electricity directly from the ground beneath them, ditching heavy onboard batteries by turning metal and silicon surfaces into an active power source.

— New Atlas, New Atlas, 8 Oct. 2026
Traffic cameras showed that northbound traffic was bumper-to-bumper and crawling along I-35 before being detoured from the highway.

— Kansas City Star, Kansas City Star, 7 Oct. 2026