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 2022 bare-knuckle holiday sensation Violent Night followed an embittered Santa, armed with lethal combat skills, who takes out a team of ruthless mercenaries to rescue a girl and her family.
—
Justin Kroll, Deadline, 10 Sep. 2025
And to go bare-knuckle with the Chargers.
—Troy Renck, Denver Post, 7 Sep. 2025
As Republicans moved to have state legislatures under their umbrella of control add more favorable seats to the 2026 midterm maps in Texas, Ohio and Indiana, Newsom matched the bare-knuckle approach with a new version of California's congressional maps that would eliminate five GOP-leaning seats.
—Phillip M. Bailey, USA Today, 24 Aug. 2025
His best bare-knuckle performance came in a 2024 win over ex-Bellator champion Daniel Straus.
—Brian Mazique, Forbes.com, 19 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for bare-knuckle
Justin Kroll, Deadline, 10 Sep. 2025
And to go bare-knuckle with the Chargers.
—Troy Renck, Denver Post, 7 Sep. 2025
As Republicans moved to have state legislatures under their umbrella of control add more favorable seats to the 2026 midterm maps in Texas, Ohio and Indiana, Newsom matched the bare-knuckle approach with a new version of California's congressional maps that would eliminate five GOP-leaning seats.
—Phillip M. Bailey, USA Today, 24 Aug. 2025
His best bare-knuckle performance came in a 2024 win over ex-Bellator champion Daniel Straus.
—Brian Mazique, Forbes.com, 19 Aug. 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
-
At the conference, Farage appeared onstage in a blaze of pyrotechnics and gladiatorial chords.—
Sam Knight,
New Yorker,
21 Sep. 2025
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Under his rule, the teens are pitted against each other (and other supes) in gladiatorial-style combat.—
EW.com,
EW.com,
19 Aug. 2025
Adjective
-
With Hedda, as with all her scores, Gudnadóttir remains distinctive without being in-your-face.—
Scott Roxborough,
HollywoodReporter,
2 Oct. 2025
-
Marketwatch was the first really in-your-face deal.—
Jim Cramer,
CNBC,
28 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
When the Boston Police Department came across violent pro-Palestine supporters at the Boston Common, officers were not dressed in riot gear, and there was not enough manpower to handle the combative situation, according to the president of the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association.—
Lance Reynolds,
Boston Herald,
12 Oct. 2025
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Watts pressed further, Porter grew visibly frustrated, and finally Porter accused Watts of being unnecessarily combative.—
Kathleen Walsh,
Glamour,
9 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
In that same Leeds-Bournemouth game, Tyler Adams — who was booed by the Leeds fans throughout — was his usual pugnacious self for 81 minutes.—
Henry Bushnell,
New York Times,
29 Sep. 2025
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Then Martinez, famously one of the commission’s most pugnacious members, decided to share a response.—
Douglas Hanks,
Miami Herald,
15 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Corigliano’s symphony is assaultive in style and confrontational in intent.—
Alex Ross,
New Yorker,
6 Oct. 2025
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In August, Kelley was arrested and charged with three misdemeanors — one for electronic communications harassment and two for electronic disclosure of personal identifying information — following days of apparent confrontational social media posts allegedly doxxing her friends and family members.—
Julia Moore,
PEOPLE,
30 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
The film’s revolutionaries, who call themselves the French 75, come clothed in the take-no-prisoners rhetoric and fist-in-the-air attitude that’s been the signifier of righteous radicalism since the late ’60s.—
Owen Gleiberman,
Variety,
17 Sep. 2025
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Directed by genre-hopping Ben Wheatley and written by John Wick creator Derek Kolstad from a story hatched by Kolstad and Odenkirk, the subversive Western is a take-no-prisoners gore fest that peppers all the visceral carnage with an equal sprinkling of dry wit.—
Michael Rechtshaffen,
HollywoodReporter,
15 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Second, having quickly been identified by internet bloodhounds, the actual offending Polish paving magnate issued a belligerent non-apology.—
NEAL RUBIN,
Freep.com,
10 Sep. 2025
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Medvedev, a former president of Russia and an ally of incumbent President Vladimir Putin, has been known to make belligerent comments against the West, which have likely been approved by the Kremlin.—
Brendan Cole,
MSNBC Newsweek,
6 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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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
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Still, these sections lack the blood-and-guts tension of her interactions with her mother.—
Madeline Leung Coleman,
Vulture,
27 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Bare-knuckle.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bare-knuckle. Accessed 19 Oct. 2025.
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