1
: having barbs
2
: characterized by pointed and biting criticism or sarcasm
barbed witticisms

Examples of barbed in a Sentence

The candidates exchanged barbed comments during the debate. barbed satire on American academia
Recent Examples on the Web Authorities have barricaded highways leading to New Delhi with cement blocks, metal containers, barbed wire and iron spikes to prevent the farmers from entering the capital. Rishi Lekhi and Ashok Sharma, Quartz, 14 Mar. 2024 Dorie Ladner was 11 months younger than Emmett Till, an African American who was 14 when he was lynched in the Mississippi Delta in 1955, his mutilated body tethered with barbed wire to a cotton gin fan and submerged in the Tallahatchie River. Emily Langer, Washington Post, 13 Mar. 2024 Today, Al-Hol’s fifty thousand residents are grouped into sectors divided by barbed wire; to walk from one to the next can take half an hour. Anand Gopal, The New Yorker, 11 Mar. 2024 But in this election, the immigration debate is also fueled by images of large groups of migrants crossing a river and crawling through barbed wire fences. Jean Lantz Reisz, The Conversation, 8 Mar. 2024 The two groups were separated by barbed wire, with what appeared to be the Rio Grande behind the migrants. Pilar Arias, Fox News, 7 Mar. 2024 On the other side of their garden wall, beyond the barbed wire, is the death camp Auschwitz. Hazlitt, 6 Mar. 2024 Another common defense tactic is to shoot or flick a cloud of barbed hairs – right off their own abdomens – at their attackers. Katie Liu, Discover Magazine, 29 Feb. 2024 Similarly, Valvano’s Party Girl Bake Club may feature fruity pebbles, barbed wire icing and candied ash trays, but there’s a 100-year-old art in these desserts, hidden in plain sight. Annemarie Dooling, USA TODAY, 29 Feb. 2024

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

Word History

First Known Use

1611, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of barbed was in 1611

Dictionary Entries Near barbed

Cite this Entry

“Barbed.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/barbed. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

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