pry /praɪ/ BrE AmE verb ( past tense and past participle pried , present participle prying , third person singular pries )
[ Sense 1,3: Date: 1300-1400 ; Origin: Origin unknown ]
[ Sense 2,4: Date: 1800-1900 ; Origin: prize 'to force up' (17-21 centuries) , from prize 'lever' (14-20 centuries) , from Old French prise 'act of seizing' ]
1 . [intransitive] to try to find out details about someone else’s private life in an impolite way:
I don’t want to pry, but I need to ask you one or two questions.
pry into
reporters prying into the affairs of celebrities
2 . [transitive always + adverb/preposition] especially American English to force something open, or force it away from something else SYN prize British English
pry something open/away/off etc
We finally managed to pry the door open with a screwdriver.
3 . away from prying eyes in private, where people cannot see what you are doing
pry something out of somebody/something phrasal verb American English
to get money or information from someone with a lot of difficulty:
If you want to know his name, you’ll have to pry it out of her.
• • •
THESAURUS
▪ interfere to try to get involved in a situation where you are not wanted or needed:
She tried not to interfere in her children’s lives.
|
It’s not your problem, so don’t interfere.
▪ meddle to interfere in someone else’s affairs in a way that is annoying for them. Meddle is more informal than interfere , and has more of a feeling of being annoyed:
I did not want my parents meddling in my private affairs.
|
He warned diplomats against meddling in Indonesia’s affairs.
▪ intrude to interfere by being somewhere where you are not wanted, or getting involved in a situation that is private – used especially when saying that you want to avoid doing this:
Sorry, I didn’t mean to intrude while you were on the phone.
|
When someone dies, people are often worried about intruding.
▪ butt in informal to interfere by trying to become involved in a private situation or conversation that does not concern you:
Stop butting in, will you!
|
I didn’t want to give them any advice in case they thought I was butting in.
▪ pry to try to find out what someone else is doing in their private life, by asking questions or secretly checking what they are doing, in a way that seems annoying or rude:
Journalists like to pry into the lives of the rich and famous.
|
I didn’t mean to pry – I just wanted to know if I could help.
▪ poke/stick your nose into something informal to ask questions about someone else’s private life or give them advice they do not want, in a way that annoys them:
She’s one of those people who’s always poking her nose into other people’s business.