pull away
English
Pronunciation
Audio (Australia): (file)
Verb
pull away (third-person singular simple present pulls away, present participle pulling away, simple past and past participle pulled away)
- (idiomatic) To move ahead.
- Schumacher is beginning to pull away from the rest of the racers.
- 1980 February 16, Nancy Walker, “You Can Go Home Again”, in Gay Community News[1], volume 7, number 29, archived from the original on 5 August 2026, page 12:
- San Francisco is a city built on hills that look, to the driver of an ailing vintage VW, like they go straight up endlessly. At the beginning of our trip my sother couldn't pull away from a light if the car was on the slightest backward incline.
- 2011 October 1, John Sinnott, “Aston Villa 2 - 0 Wigan”, in BBC Sport[2], archived from the original on 3 September 2026:
- As Bent pulled away to the far post, Agbonlahor opted to go it alone, motoring past Gary Caldwell before unleashing a shot into the roof of the net.
- (transitive) To move oneself further from a target, either literally or figuratively
- She pulled away from me when I approached her.
- We used to be close, but Paul has been pulling away from me for years.
- 1983 August 13, Jil Clark, quoting Ronni Sanlo, “Lesbian's Activism 'Confusing' to Children”, in Gay Community News[3], volume 11, number 5, page 3:
- My 7-year-old son pulled away from my lover when she picked him up. He was upset. He said he loves her but he's afraid because he knows when he gets home Daddy is going to ask him if he touched us and if he says 'yes' he's going to get a spanking.
- 2026 July 25, Nicholas Muhoro, “The Last Call of Jo-Anne Pedersen, the Girl Who Vanished From a Payphone”, in Skip Boring[4], archived from the original on 26 July 2026:
- […] her mother, Angela, was pulled away from the birthday party she was attending to answer the phone.
Translations
to move ahead
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