pry

5 definitions • 7 examples

to try to find out private facts about a person:

As a reporter, I was paid to pry into other people's lives.

I hope you don't think I'm prying, but has your boyfriend ever lived with anyone before?

She wanted a private holiday away from prying eyes (= where no one would be trying to see her).

to move or lift something by pressing a tool against a fixed point:

[ + adj ] The car trunk had been pried open and all her equipment was gone.

to open, move, or lift something by putting one end of a tool under it and pushing down on the other end:

She pried the oyster open.

fig. To pry is also to get something with much effort:

They pried the information out of him.

to try to obtain private facts about a person:

Reporters were prying into her personal life.