as in sacking
to let go from office, service, or employment
the boss will ax anyone who leaks company secrets
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Recent Examples of axing
For the first time since temporarily axing the base model WRX for 2025, Subaru regained traction with its sport compact, with sales jumping 50% from a year ago.
—
Byron Hurd, The Drive, 4 June 2026
More than a dozen are rumored to be on his shortlist for axing, after several more were voluntarily killed or amended to avoid the gallows.
—Nick Coltrain, Denver Post, 15 May 2026
Brendan McDermid | Reuters Amazon is axing its Rufus chatbot and making its Alexa assistant the centerpiece of its artificial intelligence shopping strategy.
—Annie Palmer, CNBC, 13 May 2026
Amazon has been laying off staff en masse this year, axing over 16,000 employees in 2026 so far.
—Will McCurdy, PC Magazine, 2 May 2026
The city is also contemplating axing more than 94 vacant jobs.
—Ishani Desai, Sacbee.com, 29 Apr. 2026
The biggest headline in Europe this week was German airline Lufthansa axing 20,000 flights through October.
—Jordan Blum, Fortune, 24 Apr. 2026
Membership perks are also changing, with the city axing unlimited play time for annual members and removing reserved tee times that were always set aside for several longstanding golf associations in the city.
—Michelle Marchante, Miami Herald, 17 Apr. 2026
Of course, dozens of companies have been axing staff and restructuring for a digital future, which is perhaps the BBC’s biggest challenge.
—Jesse Whittock, Deadline, 17 Apr. 2026
Byron Hurd, The Drive, 4 June 2026
More than a dozen are rumored to be on his shortlist for axing, after several more were voluntarily killed or amended to avoid the gallows.
—Nick Coltrain, Denver Post, 15 May 2026
Brendan McDermid | Reuters Amazon is axing its Rufus chatbot and making its Alexa assistant the centerpiece of its artificial intelligence shopping strategy.
—Annie Palmer, CNBC, 13 May 2026
Amazon has been laying off staff en masse this year, axing over 16,000 employees in 2026 so far.
—Will McCurdy, PC Magazine, 2 May 2026
The city is also contemplating axing more than 94 vacant jobs.
—Ishani Desai, Sacbee.com, 29 Apr. 2026
The biggest headline in Europe this week was German airline Lufthansa axing 20,000 flights through October.
—Jordan Blum, Fortune, 24 Apr. 2026
Membership perks are also changing, with the city axing unlimited play time for annual members and removing reserved tee times that were always set aside for several longstanding golf associations in the city.
—Michelle Marchante, Miami Herald, 17 Apr. 2026
Of course, dozens of companies have been axing staff and restructuring for a digital future, which is perhaps the BBC’s biggest challenge.
—Jesse Whittock, Deadline, 17 Apr. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for axing
Verb
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Villa’s then sporting director Monchi reportedly attempting a straight swap of him for goalkeeper Emi Martinez last summer is a sacking offence (perhaps literally).—
Tim Spiers,
New York Times,
26 May 2026
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Giants linebacker Abdul Carter didn’t waste any time sacking his own quarterback.—
Leonard Greene,
New York Daily News,
23 May 2026
Verb
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Those who found Hillary Dawa were members of the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC), which sets the routes, ropes and ladders through the Khumbu Icefall at the start of the season, and is in charge of removing waste from the mountain once climbers have left.—
Helen Regan,
CNN Money,
5 June 2026
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Regularly cleaning filters, emptying dust containers, and removing hair from the brush roll can help keep the machine running efficiently for years.—
Jessica Safavimehr,
Southern Living,
5 June 2026
Verb
-
As the media fixates on the digital natives known as Gen Z and Gen Alpha — often dismissing them as antisocial and entitled members of society — Saturday’s celebration showed that younger generations might actually have it all under control.—
Andrea Flores,
Los Angeles Times,
9 June 2026
-
Democrats criticized Republicans for dismissing attempts at meaningful reform.—
Ximena Bustillo,
NPR,
9 June 2026
Verb
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The Raiders kept the momentum firing in the bottom of the inning, cutting the deficit to two after Clements reached on an error, stole second, advanced to third on a groundout and scored after an errant throw following the groundout.—
Jack Murray,
Boston Herald,
10 June 2026
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An Orange County man downed 2 quarts of Jack Daniel’s before firing a gun multiple times inside his Laguna Niguel home, forcing terrified relatives to flee.—
Seamus Bozeman
Follow,
Los Angeles Times,
9 June 2026
Verb
-
Adraee, who is retiring this year, takes pride in his work.—
Melanie Lidman,
Los Angeles Times,
9 June 2026
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Baby boomers are retiring at a rapid pace, and there are fewer younger workers paying into the system for every senior collecting monthly benefits.—
Scott Horsley,
NPR,
9 June 2026
Verb
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Instead of just releasing Mythos, which proved in testing to be adept at spotting security holes, Anthropic initially made the model available to 11 organizations, including Club names CrowdStrike and Palo Alto Networks .—
Zev Fima,
CNBC,
4 June 2026
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Since only female mosquitoes bite, releasing males wouldn't increase the biting populations.—
Kimberly Miller,
USA Today,
3 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Axing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/axing. Accessed 10 Jun. 2026.
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