drubbing 1 of 2

noun

as in defeat
failure to win a contest took a terrible drubbing in last night's basketball game

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

drubbing

2 of 2

verb

present participle of drub
1
as in pounding
to strike repeatedly a crowd was drubbing the purse snatcher when the police arrived on the scene

Synonyms & Similar Words
2
as in whipping
to defeat by a large margin we drubbed our traditional football rivals so badly that it was basically no contest

Synonyms & Similar Words

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 drubbing
Noun
Even after California erased a 14-point lead in Week 1, UCLA answered with 21 unanswered points to complete a 45-24 drubbing. — The Athletic College Football Staff, New York Times, 9 Sep. 2026 UConn football started the Jason Candle era with a 56-7 drubbing of Lafayette behind QB Kalieb Osborne’s 355 total yards at Rentschler Field on Saturday. — Joe Arruda, Hartford Courant, 6 Sep. 2026 DeBoer briefly regained some goodwill by beating Oklahoma to open the College Football Playoffs after a 28-3 drubbing by Georgia in the SEC Championship. — Edgar Thompson, The Orlando Sentinel, 28 Aug. 2026 After his drubbing by DeSantis, several Democrats said Jolly was campaigning more effectively. — ABC News, 13 Aug. 2026 The Blaze host Auron MacIntyre likewise opined that all the infighting over burrito pricing is a symptom of a party bracing for a midterm drubbing and pre-emptively looking for something to pin it on. — Andy Meek, Forbes.com, 9 Aug. 2026 Meanwhile in Foxborough, it's been a long offseason since the drubbing the Patriots took in SB60. — Jim Reineking, USA Today, 27 July 2026 And Republican figures who had tied their star to Trump fear a drubbing in the midterms so long as the war continues. — Nabih Bulos, Los Angeles Times, 20 July 2026 The drubbing moved the Sox to 42-38 on the season, and kept them in sole possession of first place in the AL Central. — Zach Dean Outkick, FOXNews.com, 27 June 2026
Verb
The mighty Mariners, who mashed five solo home runs at raucous T-Mobile Park, clinched their title by drubbing Major League Baseball’s doormat, aka the Colorado Rockies, 9-2. — Patrick Saunders, Denver Post, 25 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for drubbing
  1. defeat
  2. pounding
  3. whipping
  4. loss
  5. licking
  6. bombing
  7. beating
  8. lashing
Noun
  • As the most consistently excellent side in rugby union history, the All Blacks usually repaid any reaction by inflicting a defeat.
    — Jacob Whitehead, New York Times, 11 Sep. 2026
  • McKee’s defeat ends his bid for a second full term and marks the first time in more than 30 years that a sitting Rhode Island governor has been beaten in a primary.
    — Kimberlee Kruesi, Fortune, 10 Sep. 2026
Definition of defeat
Verb
  • Still, the stock is a table-pounding buy for analysts led by McShane.
    — Michael Bloom, CNBC, 5 Sep. 2026
  • On offense, that means pounding the rock with a stout run game and letting that set up the passing attack.
    — Jordan McPherson, Miami Herald, 3 Sep. 2026
Definition of pounding
Verb
  • Goalkeeper Emi Martinez floated a ball over Ezri Konsa to Rogers, who exchanged passes with Joao Pedro before shifting sharply onto his right foot and whipping a shot just wide of David Raya’s far post.
    — Liam Twomey, New York Times, 7 Sep. 2026
  • Into the work, esparza’s has also added a scene from the Florentine Codex showing a Spaniard whipping an Indigenous person and images of ICE raids in LA and Chicago, connecting centuries of oppression together.
    — Maximilíano Durón, ARTnews.com, 4 Sep. 2026
Definition of whipping
Noun
  • Across a run of six defeats in seven matches, which left his tenure hanging by a thread, the Forest and Brighton losses were the worst.
    — Beren Cross, New York Times, 6 Sep. 2026
  • Rice lipids and jojoba oil seal in moisture and replenish the skin barrier, while 2% ectoin soothes redness and protects against water loss.
    — Christa Joanna Lee, Allure, 6 Sep. 2026
Definition of loss
Verb
  • The licking branch is just as important as the scrape beneath it.
    — Josh Honeycutt, Outdoor Life, 10 Sep. 2026
  • Beware of lilies, which are toxic to cats; even chewing the leaves or licking pollen off their fur while grooming can be fatal.
    — Emily Tarinelli, Los Angeles Times, 8 Sep. 2026
Definition of licking
Verb
  • In 2025, the United States joined Israel in bombing Iran, and in 2026 the United States and Israel launched a full-scale war with the initial objective of regime change in Tehran.
    — Daniel Byman, Foreign Affairs, 8 Sep. 2026
  • The status of its nuclear program, degraded by bombing strikes in 2025, hasn't changed.
    — Susan Page, USA Today, 25 Aug. 2026
Definition of bombing
Noun
  • Ethan Ampadu snapped into tackles, Noah Okafor had the beating of Ferdi Kadioglu and Dominic Calvert-Lewin was a menace with his physicality.
    — Stuart James, New York Times, 8 Sep. 2026
  • For some residents, the incident also brought back memories of the fatal beating of 58-year-old Alvin Prasad outside Badlands on Halloween last year.
    — Nicole Buss, Sacbee.com, 7 Sep. 2026
Definition of beating
Verb
  • These are just two of the many scenes of destruction the hurricane has left in Hawaii after lashing the state’s western islands with heavy rain, widespread flooding and tropical-storm-force winds on Monday and Tuesday.
    — Liz Kreutz, NBC news, 9 Sep. 2026
  • This week’s meeting of G20 finance ministers underscored rising global trade tensions, with several countries, including the US, lashing out at China.
    — Jeronimo Gonzalez, semafor.com, 4 Sep. 2026
Definition of lashing

Browse Nearby Words

drubbed
drubbing
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Cite this Entry

“Drubbing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/drubbing. Accessed 13 Sep. 2026.

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