prong

1 of 2

noun

ˈprȯŋ How to pronounce prong (audio)
ˈpräŋ
1
: fork
2
: a tine of a fork
3
: a slender pointed or projecting part: such as
a
: a fang of a tooth
b
: a point of an antler
4
: something resembling a prong

prong

2 of 2

verb

pronged; pronging; prongs

transitive verb

: to stab, pierce, or break up with a pronged device

Examples of prong in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
The emergency order was one prong in the city’s approach to combating substance abuse, which includes opening a stabilization center and convening the Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission to divvy up national opioid lawsuit settlement dollars. Jenna Portnoy, Washington Post, 18 Feb. 2024 However, the Education Department’s position is that for borrowers who receive TPD discharges under the SSA or medical provider prongs, the debt is not considered discharged for tax purposes until after the three-year monitoring period ends. Adam S. Minsky, Forbes, 13 Feb. 2024 Ah So Cork Puller and Bottle Opener, the two hard stainless steel prongs get wiggled between the glass bottle and cork. Maya Polton, Better Homes & Gardens, 8 Feb. 2024 The other prongs involve shipping hippos abroad to sanctuaries and zoos, and — more contentiously — culling some of the animals. Nature Magazine, Scientific American, 13 Nov. 2023 The second prong, is getting girls involved at a young age. Kiana Murden, Vogue, 28 Oct. 2023 This manual aerator features two prongs that aerate by using your own weight through your foot. Jack Byram, Better Homes & Gardens, 9 Jan. 2024 On our first day, after our briefing and suiting up, we were all issued cultivators: garden tools from the local Canadian Tire with long wooden handles that, instead of a rake or a hoe at the end, have three curved prongs. Hazlitt, 20 Sep. 2023 The image is gross, but there is also something alluring and even sensual about it—the red puckered edges around the scab proffering it like a shiny gem, set in a prong. Naomi Fry, The New Yorker, 28 Nov. 2023
Verb
The chat reportedly suggested the members had strong ties to the police force, which then brought police corruption into the multi-pronged scandal. Caitlin Kelley, Billboard, 24 Mar. 2019 Apparently, there's now a new twist on the classic shape, looking a little more modern with an oval center stone and spiky pronged diamonds surrounding it. Katherine J. Igoe, Marie Claire, 2 Aug. 2019 The solutions, according to the Bay Area Equity Atlas report and Price’s work, have to be multi-pronged in order to really tackle the problems of housing affordability. Bay City News Service, The Mercury News, 13 Aug. 2019 Few hardware manufacturers have convinced other game makers that their strange, proprietary chips—full of multi-pronged, work-in-tandem processors or cores—are worth those system-specific headaches. Sam MacHkovech, Ars Technica, 19 Sep. 2018 There’s no definitive diagnostic test for schizophrenia, so doctors will typically take a multi-pronged approach. Nina Bahadur, SELF, 15 Sep. 2018 Google, which has been under fire for being one of the biggest enablers of fake news, is now fighting back with a new multi-pronged, $300 million plan to elevate quality journalism. Alyssa Newcomb /, NBC News, 20 Mar. 2018 To answer these questions, the researchers launched a multi-pronged analysis. Scott K. Johnson, Ars Technica, 27 Jan. 2018 The indictments of the 13 Russians relate to just one prong of a multi-pronged investigation. Jeff Darcy, cleveland.com, 20 Feb. 2018

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'prong.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English pronge

First Known Use

Noun

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

1785, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of prong was in the 15th century

Dictionary Entries Near prong

Cite this Entry

“Prong.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prong. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

prong

noun
ˈprȯŋ,
ˈpräŋ
1
2
: one of the sharp points of a fork : tine
3
: a slender pointed part that sticks out (as on an antler)
4
: something resembling a prong
there are two prongs to the argument
pronged
ˈprȯŋd
ˈpräŋd
adjective

More from Merriam-Webster on prong

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