How to Use pick up the pieces in a Sentence

pick up the pieces

idiom
Definition of pick up the piecesnext
  • The solution has been to let mom and dad alone pick up the pieces.
    — Daniel Henninger, WSJ, 18 May 2022
  • Mary and one to Copley — and Davis was left trying to pick up the pieces.
    — Joe Magill, cleveland, 17 Nov. 2022
  • Even as the fire raged, residents began to pick up the pieces of their lives.
    — Washington Post, 19 Mar. 2022
  • He was frustrated and shocked, but left to pick up the pieces with a broken group.
    — Kevin Reynolds, The Salt Lake Tribune, 22 Oct. 2022
  • Your venue may have gotten the grants and SVOG and been able to pick up the pieces; that’s still a long recovery.
    — Annie Zaleski, Variety, 14 July 2022
  • Any deep closers with something left in the tank will try to pick up the pieces as tired horses stagger home.
    — Dan Wolken, USA TODAY, 5 May 2023
  • Instead, the Jaguars (2-1) are left to pick up the pieces and move on after failing to finish off the upset in the Rose Bowl.
    — Creg Stephenson | Cstephenson@al.com, al, 18 Sep. 2022
  • His victims were left to pick up the pieces of their lives and ruined retirements.
    — Emily Strohm, PEOPLE.com, 25 July 2022
  • So when the Democratic Party caved in on itself that year, Hunt was there in November to pick up the pieces.
    — John Archibald | Jarchibald@al.com, al, 25 May 2022
  • Revenge, and his own death, are both accomplished, and in this version there is no Fortinbras to pick up the pieces.
    — Heidi Waleson, WSJ, 18 May 2022
  • On Monday morning, students at Michigan State will return to class and attempt, as the saying goes, to pick up the pieces.
    — Mitch Albom, Detroit Free Press, 19 Feb. 2023
  • The city’s Chinese residents were left to pick up the pieces on their own and were never compensated for the damage.
    — Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 11 Aug. 2022
  • Meanwhile, others in town are trying to pick up the pieces and keep their households and businesses going.
    — Anna Bahney, CNN, 21 Apr. 2023
  • When tragedy strikes, Isabel must pick up the pieces and keep her family business going, all while dealing with her grief.
    — Katie Bowlby, Country Living, 24 Mar. 2023
  • But Pakistan was left to pick up the pieces — millions of refugees and new sectarian militant groups — when the Soviets and the Americans left in 1989.
    — Mallika Sen, ajc, 25 Sep. 2021
  • Likewise, Morgan’s mother, Eliza, was a powerful role model, since Eliza had to pick up the pieces after Charles’ latest flop.
    — Hannah Fish, The Christian Science Monitor, 6 Apr. 2022
  • Huge swaths of southwest and central Florida were still struggling to pick up the pieces and turn on lights days after Ian blew through their communities last week.
    — Kathryn Prociv, NBC News, 3 Oct. 2022
  • As efforts scale up, organizations like IOM need enterprising partners to join hands and help pick up the pieces.
    — Michael Sheldrick, Forbes, 27 Mar. 2023
  • The bomb cyclone left a trail of dangerous seas, coastal erosion, widespread flooding and wind damage in its wake, but a break in the rain is going to give Bay Area residents a chance to pick up the pieces this morning.
    — Gerry Díaz, San Francisco Chronicle, 6 Jan. 2023
  • While residents try to pick up the pieces, officials are working to piece together the fire’s possible origins.
    — Los Angeles Times, 12 May 2022
  • And as some communities pick up the pieces, others are bracing for potential damage.
    — Christina Maxouris, CNN, 27 Mar. 2022
  • The question now is whether Cohen is a boardroom reformer championing the cause of the little investor or a game playing opportunist about to ‘pump and dump’, leaving Nordstrom and those less fleet-of-foot to pick up the pieces.
    — Mark Faithfull, Forbes, 6 Feb. 2023
  • The pair work together on a nearly foolproof scheme, but when their success threatens to unravel, Winnie disappears again, leaving Ava to pick up the pieces.
    — Serena Puang, BostonGlobe.com, 19 June 2022
  • While the controversy resulted in seven years of litigation in federal court, the young players were branded cheaters and left to pick up the pieces themselves.
    — Angelique Jackson, Variety, 25 Jan. 2022
  • The limited series kicks off with Leni's puzzling disappearance, which leaves Gina to pick up the pieces all while attempting to maintain their secret.
    — Christina Dugan Ramirez, Peoplemag, 19 Aug. 2022
  • The violence is like a tornado or an earthquake: a disaster suffered by all of Derry’s citizens, who pick up the pieces together.
    — Joseph Patrick Kelly, The Conversation, 5 Apr. 2023
  • As the investigation gathers pace on different continents, his widow Siddique is left to pick up the pieces and come to terms with his devastating loss.
    — Bethlehem Feleke, CNN, 2 Dec. 2022
  • The new watches and warnings came as residents in the Mississippi Delta, one of the poorest areas in the nation, struggled to pick up the pieces Monday after Friday evening's violent weather.
    — John Bacon, USA TODAY, 27 Mar. 2023
  • Typically, a police officer will race to a call like this, assess and stabilize the situation, and most likely request an ambulance to take the child away, leaving the family to pick up the pieces.
    — Hartford Courant, 3 Jan. 2023
  • For many of those people, who had just begun to pick up the pieces of their lives by opening small businesses and otherwise putting down tentative roots in Sudan, any hope of regaining a settled existence is now in limbo again.
    — Lynsey Chutel, New York Times, 24 Apr. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'pick up the pieces.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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