1
as in whipped
to strike repeatedly with something long and thin or flexible
students at the private school were once routinely birched for violating the rules
Synonyms & Similar Words
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2
as in licked
to strike repeatedly
always a stern disciplinarian, our father birched anyone who talked back
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for birched
Verb
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Pierce died after being whipped with a belt and being forced to stand in a cold shower, authorities said.—
Joseph States,
Chicago Tribune,
17 Feb. 2026 -
Winds whipped and livestock fled as first responders tried to quell the intense flames, another video showed.—
Briana Waxman,
CNN Money,
17 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Though his injuries were severe, the sailors watched in wonder as the cat determinedly licked his wounds, then got back to work destroying the rats threatening the ship’s food stores.—
Anne Ewbank,
Popular Science,
18 Feb. 2026
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Ghadimi licked her lips over and over.—
Babak Dehghanpisheh,
NBC news,
13 Feb. 2026
Verb
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The group of 11 skiers and four guides was returning from a three-day backcountry ski trip during a winter storm that dumped up to 7 feet of snow and lashed the mountains with 60 mph winds.—
Matt Gutman,
CBS News,
19 Feb. 2026
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Clinton, instead of delivering the usual liberal-candidate-seeks-Black-votes hominy, lashed out at her words.—
Johanna Neuman,
Los Angeles Times,
17 Feb. 2026
Verb
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The rival’s face was slashed during an attack in prison and stabbed by two inmates in another prison less than a month later.—
Silas Morgan,
The Orlando Sentinel,
20 Feb. 2026
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Thomas, 32, was found handcuffed with her throat slashed in her southeast Charlotte home near her 10-month-old baby’s crib on July 27, 1990.—
Charlotte Observer,
Charlotte Observer,
20 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Russian missiles and drones in recent months have pounded Ukraine’s energy grid, plunging people into frozen darkness in one of the country’s coldest winters on record.—
Justin Spike,
Los Angeles Times,
23 Feb. 2026
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Sweat dripped, pulses pounded, and for a fleeting few hours, nothing beyond the walls of (SUB)MERCER seemed to matter, offering a rare escape no one seemed ready to let go of.—
Kelsey Stewart,
Vogue,
17 Feb. 2026
Verb
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The media flagged and flogged it for AI incompetence.—
Jim Cramer,
CNBC,
25 Jan. 2026
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To be publicly flogged for how much Pa permitted us to do — that felt grossly unfair.—
Meredith Kile,
PEOPLE,
31 Dec. 2025
Verb
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Just five months later, Kipnuk was among several villages hit by disastrous storm surge and flooding when Typhoon Halong battered the remote Alaskan coast in October 2025.—
Dinah Voyles Pulver,
USA Today,
22 Feb. 2026
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The poster of the Big East regular-season championship trophy that sits on an easel courtside at UConn’s practice facility was battered, held together by a roll’s worth of clear packing tape at the start of the week.—
Joe Arruda,
Hartford Courant,
20 Feb. 2026
Verb
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The Patriots leaned on Los Angeles offensively and thrashed them on defense, circling Justin Herbert in the first half before swarming him for four sacks in the second.—
Andrew Callahan,
Boston Herald,
13 Jan. 2026
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The Giants followed that up by getting thrashed by the Eagles in Philadelphia this past Sunday.—
Matthew Schmidt,
MSNBC Newsweek,
27 Oct. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Birched.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/birched. Accessed 23 Feb. 2026.
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