How to Use have a lock on in a Sentence

have a lock on

phrase
  • The youths don’t have a lock on that, okay?
    Maggie Fremont, Vulture, 5 Nov. 2025
  • That’s not to say those three competitors have a lock on a solid lead.
    Zachariah Hughes, Anchorage Daily News, 10 Mar. 2022
  • Democrats will have a lock on the state’s remaining two districts.
    Patrick Marley, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 29 Apr. 2022
  • The hotels do not always have a lock on the rentals; many pop up elsewhere online.
    Washington Post, 6 May 2022
  • Lena Brown is a recluse who doesn’t have a lock on her door and so sleeps with a hammer by her pillow.
    Alex Kotlowitz, The Atlantic, 3 Apr. 2024
  • Retirees have ideas, too Policy experts don't have a lock on ideas.
    Medora Lee, USA Today, 29 July 2026
  • Clemson will be favored – heavily in most cases – in the rest of its games and might have a lock on one of the four spots already.
    Eddie Timanus, USA TODAY, 17 Oct. 2022
  • President Joe Biden should have a lock on Viviana Ramos' vote.
    Trevor Hughes, USA TODAY, 23 Apr. 2024
  • Republicans used to have a lock on this county, but demographic changes and anti-Trump sentiment put it (and the state) in play.
    Brittny Mejia, Los Angeles Times, 2 Nov. 2020
  • Old Dominion similarly continued to have a lock on the group of the year award, picking it up for the sixth consecutive year.
    Chris Willman, Variety, 8 Nov. 2023
  • Light hitting shortstop Orlando Arcia, and catcher Omar Narvaez have a lock on their positions.
    Bernie Pleskoff, Forbes, 11 Mar. 2021
  • There were only two nay votes, those of members from Iowa and New Hampshire, which currently have a lock on the first two nominating contests in each presidential year.
    Todd Spangler, Detroit Free Press, 2 Dec. 2022
  • That post-election cliff-hanger will determine the balance of power in Washington, as neither party appears to have a lock on a Senate majority right now.
    Lisa Mascaro, Star Tribune, 7 Nov. 2020
  • View Photos Today, minivans have a lock on 8 percent of the total vehicle market, hauling kids, plywood, and stuff that families used to carry in station wagons.
    Frank Markus, Car and Driver, 31 Aug. 2023
  • Flournoy, once thought to have a lock on the role, wasn't unveiled alongside Biden's other national security and foreign policy advisers before Thanksgiving.
    Naomi Lim, Washington Examiner, 7 Dec. 2020
  • OpenAI and Anthropic do, however, have a lock on the most vital and expensive software machines ever created, and a way to stay at the peak of the AI iceberg of value.
    Clem Chambers, Forbes.com, 22 July 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'have a lock on.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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