: a short heavy club
The eighteenth-century audience went to the theatre armed with whistles, rattles, … and sometimes even wooden cudgels.—
Ronald Hayman
Ronald Hayman
cudgeled or cudgelled; cudgeling or cudgelling
ˈkəj-liŋ 
ˈkə-jə-
: to beat with or as if with a cudgel
Synonyms
Examples of cudgel in a Sentence
Noun
a farmer armed with a cudgel drove us off his land
Recent Examples on the WebCharlie Campbell, TIME, 20 May 2024
In the fifties and sixties, wages and benefits grew for union miners, but the fear that jobs could disappear at any moment was often employed as a cudgel by industry bosses.
—Dan Kaufman, The New Yorker, 9 May 2024
See all Example Sentences for cudgel 
Noun
But the status of Taiwan has become a cudgel for politicians of all stripes trying to appear tough on China.
—Charlie Campbell, TIME, 20 May 2024
In the fifties and sixties, wages and benefits grew for union miners, but the fear that jobs could disappear at any moment was often employed as a cudgel by industry bosses.
—Dan Kaufman, The New Yorker, 9 May 2024
See all Example Sentences for cudgel
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'cudgel.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Articles Related to cudgel
Dictionary Entries Near cudgel
Cite this Entry
“Cudgel.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cudgel. Accessed 29 May. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
cudgel
1 of 2 noun
cud·gel
ˈkəj-əl
: a short heavy club
cudgel
2 of 2 verb
cudgeled or cudgelled; cudgeling or cudgelling
-(ə-)liŋ
: to beat with or as if with a cudgel
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share