punched up; punching up; punches up
: to give energy or forcefulness to
jokes added to punch up a speech
Examples of punch-up in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 4 Jan. 2025
Toward the end there’s a punch-up, with several players involved.
—David Szalay, The New Yorker, 1 Dec. 2024
Brendan Morrow, USA Today, 14 May 2025
Some secular faculty from out of state have historically taken a defensive posture toward the Church, which is headquartered in Salt Lake City—punching up against the dominant conservative religious group, even though Latter-day Saints are a religious minority in the United States.
—Emma Green, New Yorker, 14 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for punch-up
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Noun
Often, when shows do crossovers, the writers on one will do punch-up for their characters on the other.
—Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 4 Jan. 2025
Toward the end there’s a punch-up, with several players involved.
—David Szalay, The New Yorker, 1 Dec. 2024
Verb
But the rest of the skit was punching up and I/Chelsea was the only one punched down on.
—Brendan Morrow, USA Today, 14 May 2025
Some secular faculty from out of state have historically taken a defensive posture toward the Church, which is headquartered in Salt Lake City—punching up against the dominant conservative religious group, even though Latter-day Saints are a religious minority in the United States.
—Emma Green, New Yorker, 14 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for punch-up
Cite this Entry
“Punch-up.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/punch-up. Accessed 28 May. 2025.
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