padlock
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.
See Examples For:
When we arrive he stops at a weathered wooden fence, uses a saw-toothed key to open a padlock, and swings open the gate before pulling into a nearly empty parking lot.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
"They say education is the key, but honestly speaking we never find the padlock open," Daniel told AFP.
From Barron's ● Jul. 13, 2026
He said the culvert in question had a debris screen which did not require a padlock.
From BBC ● May 8, 2026
Not necessarily a designer one, but a handbag with a strong sense of itself — an acid-green baguette bag, a wicker orb with a padlock, a cheetah-print apothecary satchel.
From Salon ● Dec. 20, 2025
The latch rattled, and then the padlock started banging against the latch.
From "Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer" by Kelly Jones
She padlocks the gate when she returns and buries witchy talismans around the property to ward off intruders.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 14, 2025
Sensing my interest in the cluster of irregular towers, he stood up, produced a large key ring and began opening a series of padlocks.
From New York Times ● Jun. 5, 2024
When they arrived 30 minutes later, they were unable to close the flood gate as the force of water was too strong to stand up in and padlocks were submerged.
From BBC ● Nov. 22, 2023
Only if it’s lockable using padlocks or bolts.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 15, 2022
Within a month Bibi had recuperated from the birth, and with the money that Haldar had left her, she had the storage room whitewashed, and placed padlocks on the window and doors.
From "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri
Sindorf left in May 2024 but padlocked the unit behind him, preventing Vivos from taking possession.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 26, 2026
But residents can no longer view the bright autumn colours of the tree of life, a symbol often painted by Behzad, as the wooden door has been padlocked shut.
From Barron's ● Feb. 4, 2026
In March, the clinic doors had been padlocked for two weeks when she developed vomiting and diarrhea.
From Salon ● Dec. 16, 2025
The theater hit on hard times: The IRS padlocked the doors in the mid-1960s, the school itself shut down in 1969 and lost its campus to bankruptcy in 1970.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 27, 2025
I squeezed my skinny body between the school’s chain-link fence and padlocked gate.
From "While the World Watched: A Birmingham Bombing Survivor Comes of Age during the Civil Rights Movement" by Carolyn Maull McKinstry
She’s laid off half the staff and joked about padlocking the door.
From Salon ● Oct. 9, 2025
And a law that was passed primarily with climate protesters in its sights, who have taken to gluing themselves to roads and padlocking themselves to this, that and the other.
From BBC ● May 9, 2023
“It would be a terrible shame if someone were to buy it and then start padlocking it. They’ve done so much work to it, it’s quite amazing,” Bell & Co.
From Washington Times ● Nov. 27, 2022
Determined to protect this one, Nix began padlocking the banner early each morning, taking it down and storing it at sundown.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 25, 2021
But most of the stores were closed and the owners had pulled the metal gates down over the front windows and doors, padlocking them shut.
From "The Book of Unknown Americans" by Cristina Henríquez
