How to Use settle a/the score in a Sentence

settle a/the score

phrase
  • Afterward, there was a call for a third fight between the two to settle the score.
    John Whisler, ExpressNews.com, 15 Nov. 2020
  • But most fans would rather settle the score in regulation time.
    Carl Engelking, Discover Magazine, 31 July 2014
  • In the late 1990s, two teams of astronomers were out to settle a score.
    Popular Mechanics, 14 Feb. 2023
  • In the end, the two handle their dispute cowboy style in an all-out brawl that seems to settle the score once and for all.
    Kayla Keegan, Peoplemag, 11 May 2024
  • Gangs taunt one another on YouTube and settle the score with bloodshed.
    Andy Mannix, Star Tribune, 24 July 2021
  • Jarstfer was glad that Siegert eventually had a chance to settle the score with his foot, and not his arm.
    Wright Wilson, Detroit Free Press, 27 Nov. 2022
  • When all her legal options fail, Orah resorts to violence to settle the score.
    Etan Vlessing, The Hollywood Reporter, 12 Sep. 2023
  • Two Oakland men have been sentenced for their roles in killing a man to settle a score over a car break-in, according to court records.
    Nate Gartrell, The Mercury News, 16 Jan. 2025
  • The motives can be to grab land, to ostracize a woman to settle a score, or to justify violence.
    Suhasini Raj, BostonGlobe.com, 13 May 2023
  • Drake needs to find Canada’s version of a Super Bowl and perform there to settle the score.
    Tom Smyth, Vulture, 3 Jan. 2025
  • To settle the score, Adonis must put his future on the line to battle Damian, a fighter with nothing to lose.
    Chris Gardner, The Hollywood Reporter, 2 Mar. 2023
  • To settle the score, Adonis must put his future on the line to battle Damian — a fighter who has nothing to lose.
    Kimberly Nordyke, The Hollywood Reporter, 12 Feb. 2023
  • To settle the score, Adonis must put his future on the line to battle Damian – a fighter who has nothing to lose.
    Alexis Oatman, cleveland, 16 Dec. 2022
  • Ortega returned hours later to settle the score by robbing his assailant, only to be quickly arrested.
    Kevin Baxter, Los Angeles Times, 17 Nov. 2023
  • After losing in their 2019 clash via unanimous decision, Dern will look to settle the score.
    Brian Mazique, Forbes, 11 Jan. 2025
  • Sometimes the best movies often are the ones where the protagonist is seemingly defeated, gets a second lease on life, and returns in the final act to settle the score.
    Jordan Rose, Variety, 26 Aug. 2021
  • Paxton's defense sought to prove his impeachment was just an attempt to settle a score by political opponents in the state House and his own former aides.
    Caroline Linton, CBS News, 15 Sep. 2023
  • Idaho taxpayers are going to have to cough up more money to settle the score between a now-defunct Boise coffee shop and the state’s biggest university.
    Angela Palermo, Idaho Statesman, 24 Mar. 2025
  • As his childhood trauma boils over, his mysteriously scarred hands unleash an explosive campaign of retribution to settle the score with the men who took everything from him.
    Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 2 Apr. 2024
  • Following regime change in 2003, Kurds were quick to settle the score, evicting Sunni Arab families from their homes.
    Luay Al Khatteeb, Foreign Affairs, 18 Jan. 2016

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'settle a/the score.' 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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