as in stabs
to penetrate or hold (something) with a pointed object
she deftly harpooned a shrimp with her skewer and held it over the fire
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for harpoons
Verb
-
Alex breaks free and, in a panic, repeatedly stabs Evelyn with the syringe.—
Allison DeGrushe,
Entertainment Weekly,
25 Sep. 2025 -
Spike takes one of Kelson's tranquilizer darts filled with morphine and stabs Samson in the arm with it.—
Christopher Rudolph,
PEOPLE,
23 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
Asparagus boasts 89 micrograms (mcg) of folate per four spears.—
Molly Burford,
Verywell Health,
17 Oct. 2025
-
Or some good ol’ corn on the cob, or long broccolini spears.—
Ann Taylor Pittman,
Southern Living,
25 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
Recounting his visit with Shelton’s body after she’d been taken off of life support in From Bleak to Dark, Maron punctures the somber scene with a joke about taking a selfie.—
Mikey O'Connell,
HollywoodReporter,
13 Aug. 2025
Verb
-
Srinivas, who often jabs the search engine giant, made an interesting point.—
Reed Albergotti,
semafor.com,
3 Oct. 2025
-
Haggard jabs Baird over mailers The race is already tense.—
Kayla Dwyer,
IndyStar,
13 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
Three or four decades ago, the newspaperman was appealingly raffish—at once a bum who drank too much and a knight-errant who charged unafraid at social injustice, succored the weak, and crossed lances with the powerful and arrogant.—
David Wingrave,
Harpers Magazine,
24 Oct. 2025
-
At a handful of locations, these spikes extended out to nearly a meter, looking more like lances than anything needed to ward off a close-in attack.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
28 Aug. 2025
Verb
-
Her infectious laugh regularly pierces the newsroom noise.—
Brad Schmitt,
Nashville Tennessean,
20 Oct. 2025
-
But the show's greatest asset is its stars, whose endearing real-life friendship pierces through the play’s inherent despair.—
Patrick Ryan,
USA Today,
29 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
Hoosiers can hunt frogs with bow and arrows, clubs, some firearms, or simply, their hands, but Plumier teaches those gathered at Goose Pond how to use gigs — long, multi-pronged spears that look a little bit like tridents.—
Sophie Hartley,
IndyStar,
9 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
With off-putting brusqueness, the acupuncturist sticks needles into my head and left leg, leaves the room—and appears to forget all about me.—
Lucinda Rosenfeld,
New Yorker,
25 Oct. 2025
-
Robbie and Jayson have a furious battle, but Jayson sticks the fatal knife stab before fleeing.—
Bryan Alexander,
USA Today,
13 Oct. 2025
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.
Cite this Entry
“Harpoons.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/harpoons. Accessed 6 Nov. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share