as in to stab
to penetrate or hold (something) with a pointed object
she deftly harpooned a shrimp with her skewer and held it over the fire
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of harpoon
Sonja Anderson, Smithsonian Magazine, 24 Apr. 2025
Someone is then shot with a harpoon, only to have their guts pulled like taffy from the wound.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 20 Feb. 2025
With a microscope, these setae look like harpoons, and they’re filled with cocktails of venom proteins that are to scientists like Walker what light is to moths.
—Ivan Amato, Scientific American, 30 Jan. 2025
After trying to convince the disgruntled clerk to take it off his hands, the monkey bangs its drum, causing a harpoon gun on display to impale the clerk and rip out his entrails.
—Jack Dunn, Variety, 4 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for harpoon
Verb
Later, the antler was likely repurposed as part of a harpoon, a pointed spear used to catch fish.
—Sonja Anderson, Smithsonian Magazine, 24 Apr. 2025
Someone is then shot with a harpoon, only to have their guts pulled like taffy from the wound.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 20 Feb. 2025
With a microscope, these setae look like harpoons, and they’re filled with cocktails of venom proteins that are to scientists like Walker what light is to moths.
—Ivan Amato, Scientific American, 30 Jan. 2025
After trying to convince the disgruntled clerk to take it off his hands, the monkey bangs its drum, causing a harpoon gun on display to impale the clerk and rip out his entrails.
—Jack Dunn, Variety, 4 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for harpoon
Recent Examples of Synonyms for harpoon
Verb
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In 2010, a kayaker in the Florida Keys had her lung punctured when a fish leapt out of the water and stabbed her in the back.—
Charlotte Phillipp,
People.com,
30 June 2025
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One such fatwa was the one issued by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the previous supreme leader, against author Salman Rushdie, who was stabbed multiple times at the Chautauqua Institution in southwestern New York in 2022.—
Somayeh Malekian,
ABC News,
30 June 2025
Noun
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More minutes should follow in the States, even if Mbaye has the unenviable task of trying to break into one of Europe’s most devastating attacking tridents.—
Mark Carey,
New York Times,
18 June 2025
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The attacking trident has cut a swathe through opposition defenses this season to the extent that, Ada Hegerberg, the all-time record goalscorer in the UEFA Women’s Champions League, and Éugenie Le Sommer, the club’s all-time record goalscorer, have both been kept out of the Lyon starting line-up.—
Asif Burhan,
Forbes.com,
23 Apr. 2025
Verb
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She was found on the ground near the lifeguard stand with an umbrella stake that had pierced the front of her left shoulder and was sticking out the back of her arm by about 1 foot, Asbury Park Fire Chief Kevin Keddy told ABC News.—
Emily Shapiro,
ABC News,
25 June 2025
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The scepter pierced the ground of the Huanacaure mountain, and so rose the glimmering empire of Cuzco.—
Ana Karina Zatarain,
New Yorker,
21 June 2025
Noun
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Political tipping points are just the tip of the spear.—
Ginny Whitelaw,
Forbes.com,
1 July 2025
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Advertisement Advertisement The upshot: our college graduates’ woes could be just the tip of the spear.—
Paul Tudor Jones,
Time,
25 June 2025
Verb
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Steering column was pushed into his chest, broke his ribs, rib punctured his heart.—
Darlin Tillery,
MSNBC Newsweek,
2 July 2025
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Another teen girl was stabbed, her lung punctured, during the melee.—
Rebecca White,
New York Daily News,
30 June 2025
Noun
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During different events, the guards will add white gloves, a black helmet and/or the halberd.—
Greta Cross,
USA Today,
23 Apr. 2025
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The retainer then struck her down with a halberd, set the mansion ablaze, and committed seppuku.—
Nicholas Liu,
Vulture,
17 Apr. 2024
Verb
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Nearly 150 people were jabbed with syringes during a street music festival in France, the country’s interior ministry said, adding that authorities had arrested at least 12 suspects.—
Astha Rajvanshi,
NBC news,
24 June 2025
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The sequence was designed to mimic a human yawn, but one could be forgiven for thinking the fleshy android had just been unpleasantly jabbed with something sharp.—
Mack DeGeurin,
Popular Science,
5 June 2025
Verb
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Resist the urge to stick exclusively with people from the same background who all see the world the same way.—
Robert E. Siegel,
CNBC,
26 June 2025
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Courts can’t stick their heads in the sand to an obvious way that a new technology might severely harm the incentive to create, just because the issue has not come up before.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
26 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Harpoon.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/harpoon. Accessed 11 Jul. 2025.
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