as in batons
a heavy rigid stick used as a weapon or for punishment
in those days corporal punishment was common, and the cane was regarded as another one of the schoolmaster's educational tools
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Example Sentences
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.
Recent Examples of canes
Rita Pelczar, Better Homes & Gardens, 27 Dec. 2025
Wait until mid-to-late November to remove dead or diseased canes and reduce the overall size of the rose plant.
—Mary Marlowe Leverette, Southern Living, 27 Dec. 2025
Avoid long or sharp swords, sticks or canes to prevent injury if a child trips and falls.
—Greta Cross, USA Today, 29 Oct. 2025
Noun
To rejuvenate an older plant, cut 50 to 75% of the oldest, thickest canes back to the ground to allow for new shoots to develop.
—Rita Pelczar, Better Homes & Gardens, 27 Dec. 2025
Wait until mid-to-late November to remove dead or diseased canes and reduce the overall size of the rose plant.
—Mary Marlowe Leverette, Southern Living, 27 Dec. 2025
Avoid long or sharp swords, sticks or canes to prevent injury if a child trips and falls.
—Greta Cross, USA Today, 29 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for canes
Noun
-
By Monday afternoon, the unrest had spread to the northeastern city of Mashhad, where demonstrators gathered in central squares and clashed with riot police who moved in with batons.—
Greg Wehner,
FOXNews.com,
30 Dec. 2025
-
Dozens of agents swarmed the area along with a military vehicle, Murad Awawdeh, president and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition, told USA TODAY, saying agents used batons and mace on demonstrators.—
Nicole Fallert,
USA Today,
22 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
Toe tap on the sideline for 17, then boxes out Greg Newsome for 14 more.—
Joe Nguyen,
Denver Post,
21 Dec. 2025
-
This, alas, also boxes his constituents in.—
U T Editorial Board,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
8 Nov. 2025
Verb
-
Ten years after his expulsion, Saleh’s third feature in the trilogy, after Boy From Heaven, socks it to Egypt’s military leaders and General Intelligence Service (GIS), and by implication al-Sisi.—
Melanie Goodfellow,
Deadline,
17 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
Then little Holly Wheeler and her 10-year-old friends, including the Season 5 favorite Derek (Jake Connelly), all swarm into the basement and take over the D&D table in a passing of the torch that basically whacks the audience over our collective heads.—
Kelly Lawler,
USA Today,
31 Dec. 2025
-
Fed up with Nicky’s dramatics, Lester uses his elevator crank and whacks the former hard in the back of his neck.—
Rosy Cordero,
Deadline,
28 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
Coley punches back, and Sonya manages to pull her off of him.—
Anthony D'Alessandro,
Deadline,
17 Dec. 2025
-
Red Masks hold Fiona back Fiona as Constance punches her multiple times.—
Randall Colburn,
Entertainment Weekly,
9 Dec. 2025
Verb
-
The sequencer pastes together the strings and the quality scores, along with some other metadata, read by read, to form what is called a FASTQ file.—
Dmitri Pavlichin,
IEEE Spectrum,
22 Aug. 2018
Cite this Entry
“Canes.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/canes. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share