as in dazed
suffering from mental confusion
punch-drunk from having stayed up all night, she struggled through the exam
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Recent Examples of punch-drunk
Candy thought so too, later recalling that the only hard part of filming the scene was doing it over and over again for Hughes and his punch-drunk crew.
—
Lizz Schumer, PEOPLE, 7 Oct. 2025
Guiducci arrives at a moment when some of that anger has subsided, and the punch-drunk culture seems counterintuitively eager to escape into nostalgia and tastemaking, splashy profiles, and — just sometimes — confrontational journalism.
—Max Tani, semafor.com, 25 Aug. 2025
Having given us a punch-drunk vision of romantic dilemmas in her masterpiece of a debut, Song now delivers a more practical, hangover-adjacent look at how the human need for relationships gets turned into a bespoke luxury item.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 12 June 2025
Only the most punch-drunk partisan would give Republicans as much as a 50-50 chance of succeeding Gavin Newsom.
—Mark Barabak, Mercury News, 30 Apr. 2025
It’s better described as a series of springy volleys backward and forward through time—the movie ping-pongs between 2019 and 2006, with stops in between—that leave you feeling a little dizzy, even a bit punch-drunk.
—Stephanie Zacharek, TIME, 26 Apr. 2024
The notion that anyone might make a beeline to turn this punch-drunk nonsense into a new Statham franchise seems unlikely.
—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 Jan. 2024
What’s going on is that the movie is getting punch-drunk.
—Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 12 Mar. 2023
Lizz Schumer, PEOPLE, 7 Oct. 2025
Guiducci arrives at a moment when some of that anger has subsided, and the punch-drunk culture seems counterintuitively eager to escape into nostalgia and tastemaking, splashy profiles, and — just sometimes — confrontational journalism.
—Max Tani, semafor.com, 25 Aug. 2025
Having given us a punch-drunk vision of romantic dilemmas in her masterpiece of a debut, Song now delivers a more practical, hangover-adjacent look at how the human need for relationships gets turned into a bespoke luxury item.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 12 June 2025
Only the most punch-drunk partisan would give Republicans as much as a 50-50 chance of succeeding Gavin Newsom.
—Mark Barabak, Mercury News, 30 Apr. 2025
It’s better described as a series of springy volleys backward and forward through time—the movie ping-pongs between 2019 and 2006, with stops in between—that leave you feeling a little dizzy, even a bit punch-drunk.
—Stephanie Zacharek, TIME, 26 Apr. 2024
The notion that anyone might make a beeline to turn this punch-drunk nonsense into a new Statham franchise seems unlikely.
—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 Jan. 2024
What’s going on is that the movie is getting punch-drunk.
—Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 12 Mar. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for punch-drunk
Adjective
-
When Ron takes a seat, the chair falls out from under him and breaks, leaving him dazed and sprawled on the floor.—
Ben Rosenstock,
Vulture,
13 Oct. 2025
-
Philadelphia’s defense seemed dazed and ill-prepared for Dart’s precision, composure and dual-threat ability.—
Andy Behrens,
New York Times,
10 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
As Friday’s stabbing incident involving NFL alum Mark Sanchez slowly comes into focus, the team at Fox Sports seems to be just as bewildered as the rest of us.—
Glenn Garner,
Deadline,
5 Oct. 2025
-
Hair disheveled, a dazed and bewildered look in his eyes, the coach trudged into his own dressing room to regroup and get a rundown of a growing list of injuries.—
Mike Jones,
New York Times,
29 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Tibbetts looked confused by the ejection and didn’t leave the court immediately, appearing to ask another official, Tim Greene, what happened.—
Ben Pickman,
New York Times,
11 Oct. 2025
-
About 20 mins later, our son woke up, confused and looking for his daddy.—
Escher Walcott,
PEOPLE,
11 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
Symptoms can include vomiting more than three times a day, feeling constantly dizzy and lightheaded and losing weight.—
Hannah Sacks,
PEOPLE,
14 Oct. 2025
-
Traditionally, Sean Payton’s teams deploy a revolving personnel carousel that can leave opposing defensive coordinators dizzy.—
Luca Evans,
Denver Post,
26 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
In this chaotic world of busy schedules, stressful current events and personal responsibilities, growing distracted from your internal world is common.—
Kristen Rogers,
CNN Money,
10 Oct. 2025
-
Doing these podcasts keeps me distracted but motivated in fighting my condition.—
Jacob Tanswell,
New York Times,
8 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
The stunned silence after her answer kind of says it all.—
Brian Moylan,
Vulture,
10 Oct. 2025
-
What has left me completely stunned is that Labubus are on sale, too—just not on Amazon.—
Katie Decker-Jacoby,
StyleCaster,
8 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Punch-drunk.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/punch-drunk. Accessed 19 Oct. 2025.
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