as in to wax
to defeat by a large margin
the local football team was shellacked 35-0 in their final outing for the season
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of shellac
The Eagles proceeded to rip off 11 straight wins before their season ended with a disappointing 45-7 shellacking by eventual champion Broomfield in the semifinals.
—
Kyle Newman, Denver Post, 17 Aug. 2025
There were stretches of offensive ineptitude, stretches of dreadful pitching and, really, a lot of nights when they simply got shellacked.
—Zack Meisel, New York Times, 9 July 2025
But, seriously – does anyone believe the Heat’s youth benefited from the shellacking Cleveland handed them?
—Shane Young, Forbes.com, 29 Apr. 2025
But Jimmy Butler is, despite the 112-86 shellacking the Miami Heat gave his Golden State Warriors Tuesday night.
—Omar Kelly, Miami Herald, 26 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for shellac
Kyle Newman, Denver Post, 17 Aug. 2025
There were stretches of offensive ineptitude, stretches of dreadful pitching and, really, a lot of nights when they simply got shellacked.
—Zack Meisel, New York Times, 9 July 2025
But, seriously – does anyone believe the Heat’s youth benefited from the shellacking Cleveland handed them?
—Shane Young, Forbes.com, 29 Apr. 2025
But Jimmy Butler is, despite the 112-86 shellacking the Miami Heat gave his Golden State Warriors Tuesday night.
—Omar Kelly, Miami Herald, 26 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for shellac
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shellac
Verb
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How Shane waxed everyone’s butt?—
Nelson Espinal,
MSNBC Newsweek,
6 Oct. 2025
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On Wednesday, at the Tom Ford catwalk, it was scraped back and waxed into a devil-may-care quiff style and worn with a pair of wayfarer-esque sunglasses also by the house.—
Leah Dolan,
CNN Money,
2 Oct. 2025
Verb
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The line is composed almost entirely of rich neutral hues of navy, gray, and cream with occasional pops of color that add interest without compromising elegance.—
Caroline Reilly,
Robb Report,
1 Oct. 2025
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In a medium mixing bowl, cream together butter, sugar and honey until well combined.—
Gretchen McKay,
Twin Cities,
12 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Trump has also ordered Israel to stop bombing Gaza.—
SAM MEDNICK,
Arkansas Online,
5 Oct. 2025
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After being heavily bombed in WWII, Birmingham is building a better future out of concrete and steel.—
Etan Vlessing,
HollywoodReporter,
2 Oct. 2025
Verb
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The Rough Riders overcame a furious Arlington Heights rally in the third quarter and used a late goal-line stand to shock the Yellow Jackets in a 50-47 thriller.—
Updated October 10,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
10 Oct. 2025
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Johnson’s familiarity is key to bringing audiences close to Kerr and helps the film overcome its potentially alienating storyline.—
David Sims,
The Atlantic,
9 Oct. 2025
Verb
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An overlapping full-back who can whip over a hell of a cross.—
Tim Spiers,
New York Times,
7 Oct. 2025
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Pretty sure the border is whipped topping as well.—
Kimberly Holland,
Southern Living,
5 Oct. 2025
Verb
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So, uh, maybe don’t paste your customer database in Claude or Perplexity, OK?—
Andrew Nusca,
Fortune,
10 Oct. 2025
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Su gives the example of one of Scale’s clients, which had built four chatbots for slightly different tasks, forcing staff to constantly copy and paste between them.—
Harry Booth,
Time,
6 Oct. 2025
Verb
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The choice to bury dialogue gave each location and line its own sense of importance, even if they are buried in another chapter.—
Ryan Fleming,
Deadline,
10 Oct. 2025
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However, detailed observations are now making a strong case for an ocean on Mimas buried under 12 to 19 miles (20 to 30 kilometers) of solid ice.—
Nola Taylor Tillman,
Space.com,
10 Oct. 2025
Verb
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The baby used her tail to smack the bird before taking it underwater, resurfacing to show boaters the bird had been skinned, the group said.—
Paloma Chavez,
Sacbee.com,
2 Oct. 2025
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The blunt comment by the esteemed brother of director Doug Liman certainly could be skinned over the evolving battle between MPRM Communications and 42West now that its officially gone to the courts.—
Dominic Patten,
Deadline,
22 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Shellac.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shellac. Accessed 12 Oct. 2025.
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