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SPANISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

apretar.

to squeeze

7 characters3 syllables approx.Español language

Meaning & usage

verb/apɾeˈtaɾ/[a.pɾeˈt̪aɾ]
  1. to squeeze

    transitive
  2. to tighten, constrict or compress

    transitive
  3. to press (e.g., a button)

    transitive
  4. to pull (e.g., the trigger)

    transitive
  5. to grit (e.g., one's teeth), to clench (e.g., one's fist)

    transitive
  6. to push down (e.g., a toilet plunger)

    transitive
  7. to hold back

    transitive
  8. to hold on to (something)

    transitive
  9. to intensify

    intransitive
    La cosa se está apretando.
  10. to start (an action)

    colloquial
    Apreté a correr.
Where this word comes from

Inherited from Late Latin appectorāre (undergoing metathesis in Old Spanish; compare similar occurrences in pretal, pretil, pretina), from Latin pectus (“chest”). Compare Portuguese apertar, Catalan apitrar.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.