battering

noun

bat·​ter·​ing ˈba-tə-riŋ 

1

: violent physical abuse that usually involves the act of striking someone repeatedly or heavily in order to cause injury

Feminists turned violence against women, previously a well-kept secret, into a public political issue; made rape, incest, battering and sexual harassment understood as crimes; and got public funding for shelters for battered women.

—The Nation

2

: a damaging experience or situation : an injury, setback, or defeat

That was the year Canada rebounded from a 28–4 battering in the round-robin to beat the U.S. 17–16 in the championship final …

—Bob Kravitz

While her confidence took a battering [=was damaged], she kept a game face throughout the season.

—Sally Bedell Smith

Examples of battering in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Times have changed dramatically, and Labour’s recent battering came at the hands of the ascendant anti-immigrant Reform UK party on the right and, to a lesser-extent, the eco-populist Greens on the left. —ABC News, 16 May 2026

Almost everything sounds great, but the constant patter of the drums, which falls into the boosted bass range, feels more like a battering. —Mark Knapp, PC Magazine, 8 May 2026

Some modern theories have posited that the wooden horse was a machine of warfare, such as a siege engine or a battering ram. —Gitanjali Roy, Encyclopedia Britannica, 30 Apr. 2026

Madrid had been knocking on the door with some gusto for a while, but Alexander-Arnold turned his right foot into a combination of a battering ram and a skeleton key to set up Kylian Mbappe for the goal that teed up the second leg perfectly. —Nick Miller, New York Times, 8 Apr. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1542, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing battering

• battering ram
• take a battering

Rhymes for battering

• chattering
• clattering
• flattering
• pattering
• scattering
• shattering
• smattering
• spattering
• backscattering
• unflattering