pick on
Britishverb
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(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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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.”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The Patriots used their first-round pick on quarterback Mac Jones.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 23, 2026
I have been burned by the latter before, so I shied away from doing a pre-earnings pick on SharkNinja in early November.
From Barron's • Dec. 31, 2025
Maybe Mike Tyson should pick on someone his own size.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 5, 2025
The Chiefs spent a first-round pick on him to protect Patrick Mahomes' blindside in an area that's cost them two heavy Super Bowl defeats.
From BBC • Sep. 3, 2025
Had not Mama warned her: “Don’t let the neighbors pick on you.”
From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.