What does pincer mean?
A pincer is a tool or gripping claw with two jaws that close together. A pair of pincers is useful for holding, bending, or cutting small objects, while crabs, lobsters, and other animals use comparable appendages for defense and feeding. The word also has an important figurative and military use: a “pincer movement” is an attack in which forces close on a target from opposite directions. In ordinary descriptions of tools, “pincers” is generally more natural than “a pincer” when the two jaws are being treated as a single implement. The word’s imagery is memorable because the two jaws resemble a mouth or claw closing around something. It is therefore used metaphorically for situations in which a person, group, or opposing force is trapped between two sides.
A tool with two jaws that meet when squeezed, used for gripping, bending, or cutting; also, a similar gripping claw of an animal.
"She carefully loosened the bolt with a pair of pincers."
To grip, seize, or surround something with or as if with pincers, especially by attacking from two directions.
"The forces moved quickly and pincersed the enemy between them."
The plural is standard for a pair of pincers, for the gripping claws of crabs and similar animals, and for military attacks that close in from different directions.
"The pincers of the lobster clicked loudly."
In a pincer movement, two forces close on an enemy from opposite directions, turning a military tactic into a vivid image of two jaws closing together.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Words that share this root
Related word forms
How pincer is actually used
The plural “pincers” is more usual than the singular when referring to a pair of gripping or cutting tools. “Pincer movement” is established military terminology; the plural form “pincer movements” is also common. The animal sense is usually used in the plural.
Easily confused with pincer
A pincer is the singular tool or gripping claw, while pincers is the usual plural form for a pair of gripping or cutting tools.