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
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of canes
Lauren Landers, The Spruce, 10 Jan. 2026
Students at the center learn how to travel independently using canes and public transportation, cook and clean safely, use adaptive technology like screen readers and voiceover software, read Braille, and prepare for employment.
—Tori Mason, CBS News, 10 Jan. 2026
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
Noun
Plants should bloom more reliably and rose canes will thicken as their roots establish.
—Lauren Landers, The Spruce, 10 Jan. 2026
Students at the center learn how to travel independently using canes and public transportation, cook and clean safely, use adaptive technology like screen readers and voiceover software, read Braille, and prepare for employment.
—Tori Mason, CBS News, 10 Jan. 2026
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
-
Federal officers wielded batons and deployed flash-bang devices against the crowd.—
Jack Brook,
Los Angeles Times,
24 Jan. 2026
-
Or to Martin Luther King, whose birthday America will (largely pretend) to honor next week, and everyone who marched with him while facing down hoses and dogs and the batons of cops.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
15 Jan. 2026
Verb
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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
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In addition to tops and bottoms, don’t forget to snag this pair of Merino wool socks for just $11.—
Jasmine Gomez,
Travel + Leisure,
18 Jan. 2026
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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
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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
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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
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For podcasts, streams, voiceovers and video calls, this unit punches above its weight.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
24 Jan. 2026
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This is really reminding me of that House episode where the runway model punches another model out and then collapses on the catwalk.—
Emma Specter,
Vogue,
22 Jan. 2026
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 2 Feb. 2026.
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