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
Kailyn Brown, Los Angeles Times, 9 Feb. 2026
Grape vines are the most productive when they're pruned back to about 10 to 12 canes with just 4 to 5 buds each.
—Lauren Landers, Better Homes & Gardens, 4 Feb. 2026
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
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
Some guests will be elderly with walkers and canes.
—Kailyn Brown, Los Angeles Times, 9 Feb. 2026
Grape vines are the most productive when they're pruned back to about 10 to 12 canes with just 4 to 5 buds each.
—Lauren Landers, Better Homes & Gardens, 4 Feb. 2026
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
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
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According to those reports, during her arrest in December, she was beaten repeatedly with wooden sticks and batons and dragged across the ground by her hair, sustaining injuries that left open wounds on her head.—
Jomana Karadsheh,
CNN Money,
11 Feb. 2026
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Federal officers wielded batons and deployed flash-bang devices against the crowd.—
Jack Brook,
Los Angeles Times,
24 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Nick Phillips, with Applied Digital, said the tax exemption ban effectively boxes out data centers from building in South Dakota.—
Makenzie Huber,
States Newsroom,
19 Feb. 2026
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The rich Redfellows get dispatched one by one in scenes that are fun but empty — neither cathartic nor comic, simply boxes to be checked off to great big poundings of thunder and harpsichords.—
Amy Nicholson,
Los Angeles Times,
18 Feb. 2026
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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But for a city of under 60,000 year-round residents, this place punches well above its weight class.—
Brad Japhe,
Travel + Leisure,
10 Feb. 2026
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Kingsley Ibeh, right, punches Jarrell Miller during a heavyweight boxing match in New York City on Saturday.—
Isabel Yip,
NBC news,
1 Feb. 2026
Verb
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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 22 Feb. 2026.
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