body blow

noun

1
: a blow to the body
2
: a damaging or deeply felt blow
an economic body blow

Examples of body blow in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web The Cougars sustained their own body blows two weeks ago when basketball coach Kyle Smith and athletic director Pat Chun left for Stanford and Washington, respectively. Jon Wilner, The Mercury News, 12 Apr. 2024 The surest way to demoralize Green Bay is with an early body blow. Jerry McDonald, The Mercury News, 20 Jan. 2024 But on Friday night, that excitement was dealt a massive body blow. Esfandiar Baraheni, Forbes, 2 Mar. 2024 Each attack on Kharkiv feels like a body blow to the soul. Claire Harbage, NPR, 24 Feb. 2024 And unfortunately, the sector is now sustaining another body blow: billions in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money that’s been keeping remaining providers afloat began running out at the end of September. TIME, 24 Oct. 2023 There is a brutality to the Birthday Party that is capable of penetrating your bones, and the pleasingly thunderous sound mix seems intent on landing as many of those body blows as possible. Daniel Dylan Wray, Pitchfork, 11 Oct. 2023 Yet the restrictions have not been the body blow that Western officials hoped for—or anything near it. Hanna Notte, Foreign Affairs, 6 Oct. 2023 But the worst body blows—to Evofem, to the handful of other companies in its critical market, and to the 47 million U.S. women who use contraception—have come from a broken health care system. Maria Aspan, Fortune, 5 Apr. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'body blow.' 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

1788, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of body blow was in 1788

Dictionary Entries Near body blow

Cite this Entry

“Body blow.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/body%20blow. Accessed 26 Apr. 2024.

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