View synonyms for pick on

pick on

verb

tr, preposition to select (someone) for something unpleasant, esp in order to bully, blame, or cause to perform a distasteful task

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Idioms and Phrases

Tease, bully, victimize, as in She told Mom the boys were always picking on her . [Second half of 1800s] This expression is sometimes put as pick on someone your own size , meaning “don't badger someone who is younger, smaller, or weaker than yourself but do so only to an equal.”

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

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