lickings

noun

plural of licking
as in defeats
failure to win a contest our team took a licking last night, but we'll get them next time

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for lickings
  1. defeats
  2. beatings
  3. losses
  4. whippings
  5. setbacks
  6. trimmings
Noun
  • Your mind fills with all the defeats; all the anguish of mistakes made and opportunities missed.
    — Kristine Fischer, Outdoor Life, 16 July 2026
  • Then came consecutive defeats to Georgia and Georgia Tech, two losses under totally different circumstances that launched this downfall.
    — Gabriel Burns, AJC.com, 15 July 2026
Definition of defeats
Noun
  • Complaints about poor conditions were often ignored or met with violence, including late-night beatings and pepper spray, detainees said.
    — Churchill Ndonwie, The Orlando Sentinel, 13 July 2026
  • Complaints about poor conditions were often ignored or met with violence, including late-night beatings and pepper spray, detainees said.
    — Miami Herald, Miami Herald, 10 July 2026
Definition of beatings
Noun
  • Monday’s game will be the Sparks’ first contest since consecutive blowout losses, 125-97 to Toronto on June 25 and 111-87 to Indiana on June 27.
    — John W. Davis, Oc Register, 5 July 2026
  • The Sox found a way to bounce back after back-to-back walk-off losses.
    — LaMond Pope, Chicago Tribune, 5 July 2026
Definition of losses
Noun
  • Reynolds cites the early-18th-century diary of William Byrd II, who read Homer in the morning and administered whippings to refractory slaves in the afternoon.
    — James Traub, The Atlantic, 28 June 2026
  • There was physical violence as well — whippings, beatings, even bricks thrown.
    — Pamela Chelin, Los Angeles Times, 7 May 2026
Definition of whippings
Noun
  • Shein will publicly list in Hong Kong after finally receiving Beijing’s approval, deepening its Chinese roots following global setbacks.
    — Brendan Ruberry, semafor.com, 14 July 2026
  • Trump’s renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has also been met with a series of setbacks.
    — Tiago Ventura, Time, 14 July 2026
Definition of setbacks
Noun
  • Collect all trimmings and add them to the compost pile or dispose of diseased material.
    — Mary Marlowe Leverette, Southern Living, 4 July 2026
  • Trim overgrown house plants; use trimmings for cuttings.
    — Tom MacCubbin, The Orlando Sentinel, 27 June 2026
Definition of trimmings
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.

Browse Nearby Words

licking
lickings
licks
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Lickings.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/lickings. Accessed 20 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of raffish

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Do you 'say your piece' or 'say your peace'?

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Commonly Misspelled Words
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat

The Longest Long Words List

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

Why do we say 'fly off the handle'?
See More

Popular

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
child-detective
Spot the Misspelled Word July 2026 Those little red underlines can't help you now...
See All