Noun Use a pencil instead of a pen so you can erase your mistakes. Verb He penciled some notes on a piece of paper.

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

Ever since Herrera was able to hold a pencil, art has empowered him to express his feelings in ways words could not. Ryan Stoltz Eden Prairie High School, Star Tribune, "Artist hopes reactions to mural will spark change," 11 Sep. 2020

Or this time is the Bears coach using a No. 2 pencil with a trusty eraser on the end? Brad Biggs, chicagotribune.com, "Mitch Trubisky has retained his role as the Bears’ starting quarterback. But how much patience will Matt Nagy have? And where does the team go from here?," 5 Sep. 2020

Next, hold the iron like you would a pencil and press it against the pad and lead for 1 second. Mitch Altman, Popular Mechanics, "How To Get Started in Soldering," 2 Sep. 2020

Then use a pencil to mark the height of the water in the tank, and flush the toilet to get most of the water out. John Kennedy, Popular Science, "How to figure out what’s wrong with your toilet—and then fix it," 23 Aug. 2020

Students need practice putting pencil to paper and not just fingers to keyboard. Brian Platzer, The Atlantic, "Inside the Scramble to Teach From Home," 12 Aug. 2020

Two signatures—one pressed onto the painting with a woodcut stamp, the other scrawled by hand with a purple pencil—suggested the print might be a Dalí original. Brigit Katz, Smithsonian Magazine, "Thrift Store Find Identified as Original Salvador Dalí Print," 11 Mar. 2020

First, a technician pushes a pencil-length swab to the very back of your nasal passages. Robert F. Service, Science | AAAS, "New drool-based tests are replacing the dreaded coronavirus nasal swab," 24 Aug. 2020

Pencil case Old-fashioned pencil cases are returning to supply lists because kids attending in-person classes need to keep their own basic supplies. Erica Pearson, Star Tribune, "Back-to-school shopping? You may need more than No. 2 pencils and glue sticks," 21 Aug. 2020

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

Holland, though, is not planning to incorporate any standalone affordable housing on the site, saying that the economics of it wouldn’t pencil out. San Diego Union-Tribune, "Town and Country resort returns to its mid-century roots — and gets a waterslide," 21 Aug. 2020

Co-owner Tan Truong said returning to indoor dining, assuming there are capacity restrictions on the 12-seat restaurant, wouldn’t pencil out financially. Janelle Bitker, SFChronicle.com, "Bay Area’s intimate sushi restaurants are betting on plexiglass for future omakases," 7 Aug. 2020

Adame said offering more units for renters whose income is 30% and below the area's median income wouldn't pencil out, considering construction costs, city fees and the costs to offer rent subsidies. Megan Taros, The Arizona Republic, "Affordable housing coming to south Phoenix, but residents say it’s not affordable enough," 6 Aug. 2020

So go ahead and pencil these into your family calendar. Kirby Adams, The Courier-Journal, "Do you miss travel? Here are 5 single-day outdoor excursions within an hour of Louisville," 3 July 2020

The outdoorsy and adventurous can pencil dive into a gorge or wade under a waterfall. Alex Erdekian, Condé Nast Traveler, "7 Easy Weekend Trips from NYC," 17 June 2020

That kind of production from Torkelson — pencil it in at 1.2 WAR over 50 games — would be spectacular, especially at third, where the Tigers received minus-0.2 WAR last season. Ryan Ford, Detroit Free Press, "How the Detroit Tigers can make MLB playoffs in a 50-game season," 16 June 2020

But with meat shortages raising prices sky high, running a sandwich shop during the coronavirus crisis just didn’t pencil out. oregonlive, "These Portland restaurants reinvented themselves to survive coronavirus pandemic," 3 June 2020

Both Los Angeles teams feel fair to pencil into playoff spots, as do the Warriors, Rockets, Nuggets and Jazz. Michael Shapiro, SI.com, "Can the Blazers Survive a Loaded Western Conference Playoff Race?," 24 Sep. 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'pencil.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.