birching

verb

present participle of birch
1
as in whipping
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 licking
to strike repeatedly always a stern disciplinarian, our father birched anyone who talked back

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for birching
  1. whipping
  2. licking
  3. hiding
  4. lashing
  5. slashing
  6. pounding
  7. flogging
  8. battering
Verb
  • Harrison Ford is whipping back into blockbuster shape, as the 84-year-old is set to return as iconic adventurer Indiana Jones in a new Disney project.
    — Joey Nolfi, Entertainment Weekly, 16 Aug. 2026
  • He’s spent the last week whipping senators to support it and even enlisted former Alabama football coach Nick Saban to dial up undecided lawmakers, according to people familiar with the matter.
    — Burgess Everett, semafor.com, 11 Aug. 2026
Definition of whipping
Verb
  • Dubiously sourced accounts followed of Australians who died after drinking toad tea and a man supposedly being imprisoned in South America on toad-licking charges.
    — Kimon de Greef, Longreads, 4 Aug. 2026
  • There’s truly nothing like licking that paper lid, then shoveling that tiny tongue depressor into a child-sized serving of vanilla or chocolate ice cream.
    — Tara Massouleh McCay, Southern Living, 2 Aug. 2026
Definition of licking
Verb
  • Filmmaker Rubaiyat Hossain crafts a taut supernatural drama that dissects the patriarchy hiding beneath the veneer of a fairytale wedding.
    — Jesse Whittock, Deadline, 17 Aug. 2026
  • Then there are all the people hiding in the hills, and those who have taken refuge in the homes of Moroccan relatives in Ceuta.
    — Miguel Macias, NPR, 16 Aug. 2026
Definition of hiding
Verb
  • Lala weakened from a hurricane to a tropical storm Sunday after lashing the state without making landfall.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 17 Aug. 2026
  • The eyewall was forecast to move over or near the island’s southern end by the evening, lashing its worst winds at volcanic slopes thousands of feet above sea level.
    — Dennis Romero, NBC news, 15 Aug. 2026
Definition of lashing
Verb
  • Deputies said suspect Viviana Rocha carried out her alleged tire-slashing spree in the 5000 block of Verdugo Way on Wednesday morning.
    — Matthew Rodriguez, CBS News, 14 Aug. 2026
  • With ancient Greek tale The Odyssey still slashing its way to peak box office, the sword and sorcery age remains a potent genre for Hollywood.
    — Borys Kit, HollywoodReporter, 13 Aug. 2026
Definition of slashing
Verb
  • Then, in the meditation hall, our cheery host suddenly turned serious and began pounding on a 350-year-old drum from a samurai castle used for marking the beginning of chores.
    — Pico Iyer, Condé Nast Traveler, 17 Aug. 2026
  • Lala is no longer a hurricane, but the tropical storm is drenching Hawaii with sideways rain, hurricane-force gusts and pounding surf, flooding rivers and triggering mudslides.
    — Alexa St. John, Los Angeles Times, 16 Aug. 2026
Definition of pounding
Verb
  • So, that is one gig at a completely unnecessary addition to the sports calendar, created by corporate interests for the sole intention of flogging products to people who do not really like sport… and another at the Enhanced Games.
    — Matt Slater, New York Times, 23 May 2026
  • In an even more meta moment, Amazon interrupted its own Upfront with actual ads with Summer House star Paige DeSorbo flogging certain items to an increasingly frustrated audience.
    — Peter White, Deadline, 11 May 2026
Definition of flogging
Verb
  • Esteban Ribovics proved to be too much for the Brazilian legend, battering him to a TKO loss and into retirement.
    — Brian Mazique, Forbes.com, 16 Aug. 2026
  • Record-breaking temperatures are battering a continent that’s less equipped to deal with the shock than other parts of the world.
    — Bloomberg, Fortune, 11 Aug. 2026
Definition of battering
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

birches
birching
bird
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Cite this Entry

“Birching.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/birching. Accessed 20 Aug. 2026.

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