variants
also bare-knuckled
or bare-knuckles
as in gladiatorial
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of bare-knuckle
The bare-knuckle-boxing bouts of Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes movies.
—
Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 9 Jan. 2026
And videos that Patriot Front’s members have shared online – which have been viewed by CNN – show the training, the spiritual rituals and the bloody, bare-knuckle fights that take place inside.
—Rob Picheta, CNN Money, 15 Dec. 2025
And his kind of bare-knuckle romanticism was reinforced in me by Roethke and early Ted Hughes.
—Literary Hub, 12 Dec. 2025
The film followed Chan Lok-kwun (Raymond Lam), a mainland refugee trying to pay his way to a fake ID by winning bare-knuckle brawls.
—Marcus Lim, Variety, 29 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for bare-knuckle
Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 9 Jan. 2026
And videos that Patriot Front’s members have shared online – which have been viewed by CNN – show the training, the spiritual rituals and the bloody, bare-knuckle fights that take place inside.
—Rob Picheta, CNN Money, 15 Dec. 2025
And his kind of bare-knuckle romanticism was reinforced in me by Roethke and early Ted Hughes.
—Literary Hub, 12 Dec. 2025
The film followed Chan Lok-kwun (Raymond Lam), a mainland refugee trying to pay his way to a fake ID by winning bare-knuckle brawls.
—Marcus Lim, Variety, 29 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for bare-knuckle
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bare-knuckle
- gladiatorial
- in-your-face
- combative
- pugnacious
- confrontational
- take-no-prisoners
- belligerent
- blood-and-guts
Adjective
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That fits with the vaguely gladiatorial sensation of singles when two competitors face off across a net, locked in intense battle that becomes as much a test of will as skill.—
Matthew Carey,
Deadline,
28 May 2026
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Hansen and his Dateline NBC crew made gladiatorial reality TV disguised as public service.—
Toni Fitzgerald,
Forbes.com,
28 May 2026
Adjective
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The two teams come into this year’s Stanley Cup Final (Game 1, Tuesday, 8 pm, ABC) with vastly different personas and styles, the Canes with their in-your-face man system and the Knights’ zone system that relies heavily on its centers.—
Steve Conroy,
Boston Herald,
1 June 2026
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Embree was never an in-your-face taskmaster.—
Jesse Newell,
New York Times,
7 May 2026
Adjective
-
Their focus on old values of community, mutual respect, reciprocity and the embrace of the gift economy is an antidote to the individualistic, competitive and combative discourse that’s prevalent in the West today.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
3 June 2026
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On the witness stand, the teenager was reportedly combative and flustered by Jackson’s attorney Tom Mesereau, who attempted to poke holes in Gavin’s testimony and allegedly screamed at the boy throughout.—
Patrick Ryan,
USA Today,
3 June 2026
Adjective
-
The narrator’s family has moved to an affluent part of Bengaluru, and their attempts to head off meddling outsiders are at times subtle, at times pugnacious, but always hilarious.—
The Week US,
TheWeek,
27 May 2026
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And his pugnacious talk sounds quite a bit more like American politics than sober debates about the future of technology.—
Ben Smith,
semafor.com,
18 May 2026
Adjective
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Red card for covering mouth during a confrontation Any player who covers his mouth in a confrontational situation could receive a red card.—
Jordan Campbell,
New York Times,
31 May 2026
-
Shange’s rainbow assemblage manages to be confrontational and conciliatory through a confessional accumulation that collapses poetry, movement, and ritual into a single and ever-changing event.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
29 May 2026
Adjective
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Lemieux played a total of 1,215 games in the NHL, and his statistics were legion, as was his take-no-prisoners reputation.—
Theresa Braine,
New York Daily News,
28 May 2026
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His take-no-prisoners approach played well.—
Hershal Pandya,
Vulture,
12 May 2026
Adjective
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Massive drills of Russia’s nuclear forces earlier this month and a series of belligerent statements from Moscow warning Kyiv’s European allies about possible retaliation for what the Kremlin cast as their involvement in Ukrainian drone attacks have underlined Putin’s intention to up the ante.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
29 May 2026
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When he was found, deputies said Ortiz became belligerent, yelled at employees, threatened to harm them with a gun, and grabbed one of the resort employees.—
Steven Yablonski,
CBS News,
6 May 2026
Adjective
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However, fighters in the UFC seem to get caught up in trying to appease the casuals who can only appreciate blood-and-guts wars.—
Brian Mazique,
Forbes.com,
29 Mar. 2026
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Dawn of the Dead's flood of blood-and-guts is among the most memorable in film history, if only for the unnaturally vivid shades of red.—
Randall Colburn,
Entertainment Weekly,
6 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Bare-knuckle.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bare-knuckle. Accessed 7 Jun. 2026.
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