as in beating
failure to win a contest
our team took a licking last night, but we'll get them next time
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
as in pounding
to strike repeatedly
your father will lick you good if he hears you using swear words
Synonyms & Similar Words
2
as in defeating
to achieve a victory over
he's determined to do everything he can to lick the cancer
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of licking
Essence, 11 Sep. 2025
Some Whistle users still aren’t sold on the switch, though, because Tractive devices don’t have all the features that Whistle’s product line has, including the Health 2.0 Smart Device’s efforts to track pets’ licking, scratching, eating, drinking, and sleeping.
—Scharon Harding, ArsTechnica, 29 July 2025
Alyce Collins, MSNBC Newsweek, 3 Oct. 2025
During a bedtime conversation between Kaz and Caesar, for example, their dog keeps licking Caesar as Kaz tries to have a serious talk with him.
—Jim Hemphill, IndieWire, 25 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for licking
Noun
Some people enjoy gentle licking or kissing here, while others respond to massage-like pressure.
—Essence, 11 Sep. 2025
Some Whistle users still aren’t sold on the switch, though, because Tractive devices don’t have all the features that Whistle’s product line has, including the Health 2.0 Smart Device’s efforts to track pets’ licking, scratching, eating, drinking, and sleeping.
—Scharon Harding, ArsTechnica, 29 July 2025
Verb
In fact, the mischievous pup led his owner directly to the scene of the crime by licking his lips constantly, which seemed awfully curious.
—Alyce Collins, MSNBC Newsweek, 3 Oct. 2025
During a bedtime conversation between Kaz and Caesar, for example, their dog keeps licking Caesar as Kaz tries to have a serious talk with him.
—Jim Hemphill, IndieWire, 25 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for licking
Recent Examples of Synonyms for licking
Noun
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The ministry claimed that some of the bodies showed signs of abuse and beating, adding that the identification process is ongoing.—
Callum Sutherland,
Time,
16 Oct. 2025
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On many nights, Tamara would find her grandmother hunched over the kitchen table, poring over trial transcripts in which Erik and Lyle delivered hours of tearful and stomach-churning accounts of beatings, verbal lashings and rape.—
Elizabeth Wolfe,
CNN Money,
12 Oct. 2025
Verb
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So in the moments after takeoff, Higginbotham always stared at his watch, heart pounding, counting the seconds to a minute.—
Rustin Dodd,
New York Times,
23 Oct. 2025
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Bolsa Grande came out pounding the ball, and senior Haley burst up the Matadors sideline for a 68-yard score.—
Zach Cavanagh,
Oc Register,
18 Oct. 2025
Verb
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The success of this experiment suggests that, in the near future, defeating a deadly superbug could be as simple as sending a document to an inkjet printer.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
20 Oct. 2025
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Minor was elected to the Rogers City Council in a runoff in December, defeating Alicia Hayes for the Ward 3, Position 2 seat.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
20 Oct. 2025
Noun
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The play focuses on the assassination of the title character by a conspiracy headed by Brutus and Cassius and the defeat of the conspirators in battle by Caesar’s successors, the triumvirate of Marc Antony, Octavian, and Lepidus.—
JSTOR Daily,
JSTOR Daily,
23 Oct. 2025
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Six of their big chances came against struggling Forest, with Newcastle converting just one of those, while four more came in the wild 3-2 defeat against Liverpool.—
Anantaajith Raghuraman,
New York Times,
23 Oct. 2025
Verb
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In December 1978, Gacy confessed to kidnapping, raping and murdering dozens of boys and men, some as young as 14 years old, and hiding many of their bodies in a crawl space under the house.—
Jessica Sager,
PEOPLE,
18 Oct. 2025
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Unlike a killer hiding in the woods, a guy who gets you in your dreams is literally impossible to hide from, and watching our plucky heroine Nancy (Heather Langenkamp) trying to resist sleep presents a new kind of awful torture.—
Gwen Ihnat,
Entertainment Weekly,
18 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Kate Schneider and Caroline Handwerk each scored in the third quarter to separate from a halftime draw, finally overcoming a standout job from Bulldogs goalie Shealyn Murphy (15 saves).—
Tom Mulherin,
Boston Herald,
17 Oct. 2025
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Threw five gutsy innings in Game 7 of the 2019 World Series after overcoming painful spasms in his neck and upper right trapezius.—
Ken Rosenthal,
New York Times,
17 Oct. 2025
Noun
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But more important to the story than the autobiographical details, which in any case are swallowed up by the vortex of fiction, is the devastating loss of meaning that accompanies the death of a child.—
Karl Ove Knausgaard,
New Yorker,
21 Oct. 2025
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For midlife patients, that often means managing menopause symptoms, bone loss and metabolic changes brought on by hormone therapy.—
Lauryn Higgins,
Flow Space,
21 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Sarah Jessica Parker and Amy Sedaris were sitting front row, with Parker whipping out her phone to film Reese.—
Eleanor Pringle,
Fortune,
16 Oct. 2025
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While summer may be over, nothing is stopping you from whipping this thing out for the holiday season.—
Wilder Davies,
Bon Appetit Magazine,
7 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Licking.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/licking. Accessed 24 Oct. 2025.
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