as in insults
an act or expression showing scorn and usually intended to hurt another's feelings
delivered one last barb to his ex-girlfriend as he stalked away
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Recent Examples of barbs
Its barbs are muddy brown with faint metallic highlights.
—
Douglas Goodwin, The Conversation, 1 June 2026
Pledges of a united front fade as the booze flows and the barbs get sharper and sharper.
—Greg Evans, Deadline, 1 June 2026
Republicans and Democrats have traded barbs about who is responsible for creating circumstances that allow for fraud and who is doing more to fix it.
—Laura Geller, CBS News, 27 May 2026
Despite the barbs flying Tuesday, the Democrat AGs implied in their letter that their agencies and federal law enforcement continue to collaborate on fraud investigations.
—Andrew Graham
may 27, Sacbee.com, 27 May 2026
The two Democrats traded barbs over the stadium.
—Olivia Olander, Chicago Tribune, 22 May 2026
The brilliant dialogue—full of sarcasm, barbs, resentment, infuriation, competition but also underpinned by love—is so very perfectly sisterly!
—Literary Hub, 20 May 2026
The responses via social media, which ranged from sheer laughter to expletive-laden barbs, ultimately showcased just how much damage Patullo did to the psyche of Eagles fans across the country.
—Miami Herald, 14 May 2026
The two have smacked each other around in the weeks since and traded barbs over their places within the company.
—Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 9 May 2026
Douglas Goodwin, The Conversation, 1 June 2026
Pledges of a united front fade as the booze flows and the barbs get sharper and sharper.
—Greg Evans, Deadline, 1 June 2026
Republicans and Democrats have traded barbs about who is responsible for creating circumstances that allow for fraud and who is doing more to fix it.
—Laura Geller, CBS News, 27 May 2026
Despite the barbs flying Tuesday, the Democrat AGs implied in their letter that their agencies and federal law enforcement continue to collaborate on fraud investigations.
—Andrew Graham
may 27, Sacbee.com, 27 May 2026
The two Democrats traded barbs over the stadium.
—Olivia Olander, Chicago Tribune, 22 May 2026
The brilliant dialogue—full of sarcasm, barbs, resentment, infuriation, competition but also underpinned by love—is so very perfectly sisterly!
—Literary Hub, 20 May 2026
The responses via social media, which ranged from sheer laughter to expletive-laden barbs, ultimately showcased just how much damage Patullo did to the psyche of Eagles fans across the country.
—Miami Herald, 14 May 2026
The two have smacked each other around in the weeks since and traded barbs over their places within the company.
—Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 9 May 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for barbs
Noun
-
Aiyuk appears to direct two common insults at the subject of the video — almost certainly the 49ers — by using the literal, nonprofane meanings of the terms rather than saying the vulgar words themselves.—
Sean Campbell,
Sacbee.com,
9 June 2026
-
The hail of insults pouring from the Cubs dugout grew louder and nastier.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
8 June 2026
Noun
-
First seen at a night-club table of menacing lowlifes, Ida, whose mother tongue is Brooklynese, suddenly switches to a heavy British accent and dispenses a torrent of highly literary sarcasms.—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
4 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Barbs.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/barbs. Accessed 12 Jun. 2026.
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