jerk

1. 1.

   pull, or move with a sudden movement

   “He turned the handle and jerked the door open”

   Synonymsyank

   Broaderpull
2. 2.

   move with abrupt, seemingly uncontrolled motions

   “The patient's legs were jerkings”

   Synonymstwitch

   Broadermove
3. 3.

   make an uncontrolled, short, jerky motion

   “his face is twitching”

   Synonymstwitch

   Broadermove involuntarily

   Narrowerfibrillate
4. 4.

   jump vertically, with legs stiff and back arched

   “the yung filly bucked”

   Synonymsbuckhitch

   Broadermove
5. 5.

   throw or toss with a quick motion

   “flick a piece of paper across the table”

   “jerk his head”

   Synonymsflick

   Broaderpush

Other forms of jerk

plural

jerks·

past tense

jerked·

present participle

jerking·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about jerk

What does jerk mean?

jerk means "a dull stupid fatuous person". That is the primary sense; the word has 11 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in jerk?

jerk has 1 syllable: jerk. In IPA it is /ˈdʒɝk/.

What is another word for jerk?

Close synonyms include dork, jerking, jolt, saccade, jerky. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is jerk a common word?

jerk is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.