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Recent Examples of fishwife
In addition to Brecht’s typical didacticism, there is a haunting passage for a fishwife whose son died in one of Lucullus’s campaigns.
—
Seth Colter Walls, New York Times, 8 Apr. 2020
An old fishwife sees a lobster try to escape and whacks it back in with her net.
—Casey Quackenbush / Hong Kong, Time, 12 July 2018
Seth Colter Walls, New York Times, 8 Apr. 2020
An old fishwife sees a lobster try to escape and whacks it back in with her net.
—Casey Quackenbush / Hong Kong, Time, 12 July 2018
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fishwife
Noun
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Given its plotting, Brooks’s movie could easily have made Iris into a harridan and Isaac into a sociopathic rogue.—
Graham Hillard,
The Washington Examiner,
15 Aug. 2025
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As written, and as played quite winningly by Siff, Silverman’s Tekla is neither a kitten nor a harridan.—
Jesse Green,
New York Times,
19 May 2025
Noun
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The shrew is one of these mammals, according to the study.—
Irene Wright,
Miami Herald,
27 Aug. 2025
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The elephant shrew genus Macroscelides was the sole exception, shifting to omnivory after adopting myrmecophagy during the Eocene.—
Rupendra Brahambhatt,
ArsTechnica,
20 Aug. 2025
Noun
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But the film belongs to Moreno, clearly relishing the chance to play an unapologetic termagant.—
David Rooney,
The Hollywood Reporter,
13 Mar. 2022
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Rita may be a bossy termagant, but her adoring Beppe appears to love being whacked around from time to time, so what’s the harm?—
John Von Rhein,
chicagotribune.com,
15 Apr. 2018
Noun
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Some say she’s got the video vixen allure that would fit her seamlessly into the era over two decades later.—
Essence,
Essence,
6 Aug. 2025
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Today’s Wordle Etymology The word vixen comes from Middle English fixen, a southern dialectal form of fox with a feminine suffix -en (similar to how ox → oxen for plural).—
Erik Kain,
Forbes.com,
12 June 2025
Noun
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Skin is important here, not just its color but its texture as Josephine, for example, goes from elegant sophisticate to sweaty, sunburned, frizzy virago increasingly swollen with pregnancy and angry mosquito bites.—
Jessica Kiang,
Variety,
25 Aug. 2023
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Meredith is a stereotypical virago updated with modern libertarian notions.—
Charles McNulty,
Los Angeles Times,
5 July 2023
Noun
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Think a front desk hewn from Dionysos marble and sconces in the shape of harpies.—
Sam Cochran,
Architectural Digest,
11 Aug. 2025
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For those guys, mothers are either harpies or sirens—villains or traps.—
Helen Shaw,
The New Yorker,
2 May 2024
Cite this Entry
“Fishwife.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fishwife. Accessed 11 Sep. 2025.
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