JERKS Synonyms: 202 Similar and Opposite Words

jerks 1 of 2

noun

plural of jerk

as in bastards

a person whose behavior is offensive to others his constant rudeness and insensitivity made everyone think he was a real jerk

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in tugs

the act or an instance of applying force on something so that it moves in the direction of the force guided the rowboat with a jerk of the rope

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

jerks

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of jerk

as in yanks

to move or cause to move with a sharp quick motion I jerked to one side to avoid getting hit jerked the leash to get the dog's attention

Synonyms & Similar Words

as in twitches

to make jerky or restless movements you've got to quit jerking, or the barber will nick you by accident

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in shakes

to make a series of small irregular or violent movements the car jerked with every shift of the gear

Synonyms & Similar Words

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 jerks

Noun

Lee and his Burning co-writer Oh Jung-mi resist what might have been the first instinct of many filmmakers by refusing to make Ye-ji and Sang-woo overly patronizing rich jerks. — David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 6 Sep. 2026 The Ars OpenForum is a place for readers to ask questions, compare notes, argue (without being jerks to each other), and go down all sorts of rabbit holes. — Eric Bangeman, ArsTechnica, 31 Aug. 2026 That screwed up the works / And not due to his sloppy hiring / Of a crew of incompetent jerks. — Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 6 Aug. 2026 Something from this article might put me on some Ben Shapiro list, where a bunch of jerks literally will just call me ‘f****t’ or worse on my social media. — William Earl, Variety, 10 June 2026 To relitigate the matter on behalf of Musk only served to underline the conviction that all of these jerks deserved one another. — Gideon Lewis-Kraus, New Yorker, 20 May 2026 Here, witches are real — and so are jerks. — Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 30 Apr. 2026 This was just the beginning of us young anarchists becoming judgmental jerks. — Joseph Hudak, Rolling Stone, 7 Apr. 2026 In the new sequel, Grace teams with her estranged younger sister, Faith (Kathryn Newton), as they’re hunted by four elite families full of murderous jerks scrambling to become the High Seat of a Council that controls the world. — Brian Truitt, USA Today, 21 Mar. 2026

Verb

In a viral video of the aftermath, the robot jerks back and forth to shake the glass off, showering yet more dangerous shards onto the sidewalk. — Frank Landymore, Futurism, 26 Mar. 2026 Ross’s video does not show if the SUV made contact with him, as the camera angle jerks up to the sky. — Danya Gainor, CNN Money, 12 Jan. 2026 The video suddenly jerks away as the vehicle starts to move and shots can be heard. — Nicole Sganga, CBS News, 9 Jan. 2026 The boy jerks his head as if to wake himself, turns around abruptly and looks the other way, even though there’s nothing special to see besides darkness and emptiness, which is where a living eye should never look. — Literary Hub, 10 Nov. 2025 Paul goes to shake her hand but jerks it back, then gives her a left-handed handshake. — Brian Moylan, Vulture, 17 Oct. 2025

Recent Examples of Synonyms for jerks

Noun

Many Orlando-area homes feature skeletons that tower over the neighborhood, witchy covens, horror movie icons, clowns, pirate ships, pumpkins, zombies and vampires.

— Patrick Connolly, The Orlando Sentinel, 22 Oct. 2026
Friday, Edith, and the maintenance bots are sometimes goofy comic-relief clowns.

— Tasha Robinson, Vulture, 21 Oct. 2026

Definition of clowns

Noun

Nothing about Capra is weirder, to be honest, than the way in which, from one film of his to the next, suicide tugs at our sleeve.

— Anthony Lane, New Yorker, 19 Oct. 2026
Electric tugs docked alongside an LNG carrier being loaded at the LNG Canada docks in Kitimat, British Columbia, Canada, on Monday, July 14, 2025.

— Sam Meredith, CNBC, 29 Sep. 2026

Definition of tugs

Verb

Persistent muscle twitches Everyone’s muscles twitch from time to time, usually at various locations.

— Angela Haupt, Time, 15 Jan. 2026
Some devices, for example, track eye movements or other small muscle twitches to let users select words from a screen.

— Emma R. Hasson, Scientific American, 14 Aug. 2025

Definition of twitches

Verb

When isolated issues in other states occur, even if proved untrue, the intense and repeated national media attention on them shakes voter confidence here at home.

— Heather LaMarre, The Conversation, 14 Oct. 2026
Near the corner of Broad Street and Snyder Avenue in South Philadelphia, Shania Bennett shakes hands with a daycare owner.

— Dan Snyder, CBS News, 14 Oct. 2026

Definition of shakes

Noun

Just as the first drag of a cigarette hits better than the pulls that follow it, there’s a real chance that a lie down on a 2000T will never be as pleasurable as the first time.

— Jaklin Romine Oct. 15, Los Angeles Times, 15 Oct. 2026
In the video, Porizkova can be seen doing exercises such as hammer curls, cable pulls, deadlifts, pull-ups, lunges and others.

— Lori A Bashian, FOXNews.com, 10 Oct. 2026

Definition of pulls

Verb

Hop on the #6 double-decker from Central to Stanley beach, which lurches around Hong Kong Island's mountainous southern South China Sea coast (sit upstairs on the right-hand side).

— Lee Cobaj, Condé Nast Traveler, 20 Oct. 2026
The alternative is a region that lurches from crisis to crisis, and from one extreme to another.

— DAN RESTREPO, Foreign Affairs, 30 Sep. 2026