pinprick
1 of 2noun
pin·prick ˈpin-ˌprik 
1
: a small puncture made by or as if by a pin
2
: a petty irritation or annoyance
pinprick
2 of 2verb
pinpricked; pinpricking; pinpricks
transitive verb
: to administer pinpricks to
intransitive verb
: to administer pinpricks
Synonyms
Noun
- perforation
- pinhole
- prick
- punch
- puncture
- stab
See all Synonyms & Antonyms 
Example Sentences
Noun He felt a pinprick in his leg. the nurse kindly put a decorated bandage over the pinprick from the injection
Recent Examples on the Web
CBS News, 24 Aug. 2022 By the 1970s, states had established newborn screening programs, in which a nurse takes a few drops of blood from a pinprick on a baby’s heel, then sends the sample to a lab to test for certain diseases. Wired, 17 Aug. 2022 Craigie focuses on the filament, creating latticework songs with precise details that strike the listener like a pinprick. Chris Bieri, Anchorage Daily News, 1 June 2022 Set among 700,000 acres of land on the red flanks of the Cockburn Ranges, El Questro Homestead is a pinprick of green, an improbable clifftop retreat for 20 guests perched on the edge of the Chamberlain River. Anabel Dean, CNN, 18 May 2022 The dishes were a wan pink, with pinpricks in them; each pinprick was a colony of minimal cells—a version called JCVI-syn3A. Cook gestured to a nearby microscope. James Somers, The New Yorker, 28 Feb. 2022 The area separates Belarus from the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, a pinprick of territory that remained part of Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Washington Post, 12 Feb. 2022 Her idea that a pinprick of blood could be used to run dozens of tests, helping people detect life-threatening conditions earlier, was revolutionary and fit the bill of Silicon Valley's love affair with high-risk, high-reward investments. Celina Tebor, USA TODAY, 6 Jan. 2022 Torres counted each pinprick softly to himself, then did some quick calculations. Max G. Levy, Wired, 30 Nov. 2021 Justin Davidson, Curbed, 21 Oct. 2021 The teeny pinpricks force the skin to heal and build up stronger than before, while the device also deposits serum deeper into the skin. Leah Prinzivalli, Allure, 9 Nov. 2018 Device testing was conducted at a refugee camp in Kakuma, Kenya, where pinprick blood samples were examined for antibodies to measles and rubella. Helen Branswell, STAT, 25 Apr. 2018 Distorting drops of water pinpricked my face in the basin’s mirror. Dan Chiasson, The New Yorker, 20 Mar. 2017 Bonobo played an aquatically chill set of slow-moving dance music, followed by Four Tet, who kept his tempo but shifted to pinprick-precise, bucolic house. Jon Caramanica, New York Times, 16 May 2016 Distorting drops of waterpinpricked my face in the basin’s mirror. Dan Chiasson, The New Yorker, 20 Mar. 2017 See More
Noun
But these are a pinprick compared to what the Taliban experienced just prior to taking over the country on August 15th, 2021. CBS News, 24 Aug. 2022 By the 1970s, states had established newborn screening programs, in which a nurse takes a few drops of blood from a pinprick on a baby’s heel, then sends the sample to a lab to test for certain diseases. Wired, 17 Aug. 2022 Craigie focuses on the filament, creating latticework songs with precise details that strike the listener like a pinprick. Chris Bieri, Anchorage Daily News, 1 June 2022 Set among 700,000 acres of land on the red flanks of the Cockburn Ranges, El Questro Homestead is a pinprick of green, an improbable clifftop retreat for 20 guests perched on the edge of the Chamberlain River. Anabel Dean, CNN, 18 May 2022 The dishes were a wan pink, with pinpricks in them; each pinprick was a colony of minimal cells—a version called JCVI-syn3A. Cook gestured to a nearby microscope. James Somers, The New Yorker, 28 Feb. 2022 The area separates Belarus from the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, a pinprick of territory that remained part of Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Washington Post, 12 Feb. 2022 Her idea that a pinprick of blood could be used to run dozens of tests, helping people detect life-threatening conditions earlier, was revolutionary and fit the bill of Silicon Valley's love affair with high-risk, high-reward investments. Celina Tebor, USA TODAY, 6 Jan. 2022 Torres counted each pinprick softly to himself, then did some quick calculations. Max G. Levy, Wired, 30 Nov. 2021 Verb
At this height, the real thing looks fake, a composite of toy skyscrapers, tinfoil rivers, pinprick traffic lights, Central Park the size of a welcome mat, and some sort of nature in the hazy distance. Justin Davidson, Curbed, 21 Oct. 2021 The teeny pinpricks force the skin to heal and build up stronger than before, while the device also deposits serum deeper into the skin. Leah Prinzivalli, Allure, 9 Nov. 2018 Device testing was conducted at a refugee camp in Kakuma, Kenya, where pinprick blood samples were examined for antibodies to measles and rubella. Helen Branswell, STAT, 25 Apr. 2018 Distorting drops of water pinpricked my face in the basin’s mirror. Dan Chiasson, The New Yorker, 20 Mar. 2017 Bonobo played an aquatically chill set of slow-moving dance music, followed by Four Tet, who kept his tempo but shifted to pinprick-precise, bucolic house. Jon Caramanica, New York Times, 16 May 2016 Distorting drops of waterpinpricked my face in the basin’s mirror. Dan Chiasson, The New Yorker, 20 Mar. 2017 See More Word History
First Known Use
Noun
1755, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Verb
1871, in the meaning defined at transitive sense
pinpricking
verb
as in gimleting
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
- gimleting
- pronging
- thrusting
- pricking
- punching
- poking
- dirking
- poniarding
- slicing
- bayoneting
- piking
- quilling
- knifing
- transpiercing
- bayonetting
- perforating
- cutting
- riddling
- running through
- spitting
- stabbing
- jabbing
- spiking
- spindling
- transfixing
- sticking
- harpooning
- piercing
- picking
- pinking
- skewering
- pecking
- puncturing
- spearing
- goring
- lancing
- impaling