Pull away is more descriptive when saying a boat is pulling away from the dock for example. Pull away can also be more dramatic in writing when a girlfriend pulls away from her boyfriend during an argument. However, it does mean to move away - it is simply more descriptive to what type of moving away.

Hi Iris, Both phrasal verbs *can* be used to talk about the personal movement of the body. "She pulled away from his embrace and looked into his eyes," and "The children nervously moved away from the barking dog." But "pull away" has the figurative meaning of "create emotional distance between two people who were/are/could be in a relationship", and "move away" doesn't really have this meaning. So, "Claire sensed that Jimmy was pulling away from her when he started waking up before her to leave for work." But "move away" is the phrasal verb for leaving people/places/ideas behind when you move from A to B.

Pull away can also be more dramatic in writing when a boyfriend pulls away from his girlfriend during an argument. :)

If you are setting off in a car, they are just about the same. If you mean a person moving away from another person, then "pull away" has more of a sense of definitely wanting to get away from that person, while "move away" is more neutral; you just want to go somewhere else.

Ou