as in stabbing
to penetrate or hold (something) with a pointed object
doctors used to lance infected sores, so that they could drain clean
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of lancing
His maiden first-class — let alone Test — century was confirmed with a tension-lancing scythe over midwicket in the final session, writes Dominic Fifield.
—
Tim Spiers, New York Times, 7 Jan. 2026
Penn, giving a brilliant performance of cold villainy that could win him a third Oscar, is unafraid of lancing the inherent goofiness of a fascist.
—David Sims, The Atlantic, 18 Sep. 2025
Sivas begins with apartment blocks and minarets lancing a peach sky shaded with haze.
—Kurt Johnson, Condé Nast Traveler, 24 Sep. 2024
Tim Spiers, New York Times, 7 Jan. 2026
Penn, giving a brilliant performance of cold villainy that could win him a third Oscar, is unafraid of lancing the inherent goofiness of a fascist.
—David Sims, The Atlantic, 18 Sep. 2025
Sivas begins with apartment blocks and minarets lancing a peach sky shaded with haze.
—Kurt Johnson, Condé Nast Traveler, 24 Sep. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for lancing
Verb
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Corona Police shot and killed a man accused of stabbing a woman to death inside an apartment Thurday morning.—
Matthew Rodriguez,
CBS News,
21 Mar. 2026
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And a condition in which people experience unpleasant skin sensations such as burning, stabbing or a feeling like an electrical shock occurred in about 23% of those taking the higher dose of Wegovy versus 6% of those taking the lower dose and less than 1% in people who received a placebo.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
19 Mar. 2026
Verb
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But tungsten prices are particularly volatile during wartime – it’s used in armor-piercing artillery.—
David Goldman,
CNN Money,
21 Mar. 2026
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The ongoing investigation, led by Reisig, is sprawling, involving dozens of search warrants and arrests in Los Angeles County and Crescent City aimed at piercing the black-market world of fireworks that fueled the blast.—
Joe Rubin,
Sacbee.com,
20 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Yet the film also exits on a note of extreme sublimity, courtesy of a final-shot callback puncturing the realism that’s defined Late Shift up to that point.—
David Fear,
Rolling Stone,
23 Mar. 2026
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Traditionally, Oscars hosts have been at their best when puncturing the pretensions of the stars in attendance, but for the most part, host Conan O’Brien bought into their sense of their own righteousness.—
Peter Tonguette,
The Washington Examiner,
20 Mar. 2026
Verb
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While his peers aimed to achieve maximum tension by barking about capitalism over jabbing, if not outright obnoxious, guitars, Shaw scrapped layer after layer—distortion pedals, crash cymbals, eventually the drum machine itself—to crystalize his band’s own sound.—
Nina Corcoran,
Pitchfork,
24 Mar. 2026
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The victim tried to flee, but a witness who saw the altercation told police that the suspects made jabbing motions towards the victim’s body.—
Colleen Cronin,
Boston Herald,
18 Mar. 2026
Verb
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John Martinez, who spent his childhood summers working on his knees picking prunes that would shake from the trees along Capitol Avenue, remembers Chavez attending a community dance to thank everyone for raising money to help the poor.—
Julia Prodis Sulek,
Mercury News,
22 Mar. 2026
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So the smell of fresh fruit evokes memories of my mom picking lemons and grapefruit and bringing them into the kitchen.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
21 Mar. 2026
Verb
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The arrangements are not exactly the same as last year, however, as Dylan fans were surprised to hear his band sticking only to acoustic guitars and not electrics during the year’s opening shows.—
Chris Willman,
Variety,
24 Mar. 2026
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Big Jay wasn’t as free range, sticking close to the Kansas cheerleaders.—
Kirk Kenney,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
23 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Lancing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/lancing. Accessed 27 Mar. 2026.
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