as in hulk
a big clumsy often slow-witted person
I wish he wouldn't bring over here that bunch of palookas he calls his friends
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Recent Examples of palooka
Don’t be a palooka, start Nacua.
—
Bill Reinhard, New York Daily News, 12 Dec. 2024
One year after the Academy bafflingly ignored his work in Sideways, Giamatti finally scored his first Oscar nomination for his purely entertaining performance as boxing manager Joe Gould in Ron Howard’s proudly old-fashioned Depression-era palooka drama.
—A.a. Dowd, Vulture, 10 Mar. 2024
Sylvester Stallone's underdog tale about a struggling palooka given one shot at the heavyweight championship is a stirring sports movie with a level of charm and sweetness that dissipated in the rounds (and rounds) of sequels that followed.
—Brian Lowry, CNN, 25 July 2019
All this real guts and glory in Philadelphia, yet one of the big tourist attractions is to run up the Art Museum steps the way a palooka named Rocky Balboa did on the silver screen.
—Bill Livingston, cleveland.com, 1 Jan. 2018
Without it, director Phillipe Falardeau's film would be a fairly unremarkable, fairly familiar ride, telling the tale of a big-hearted but undisciplined palooka whose biggest hurdle in life is his own bad judgment.
—Mike Scott, NOLA.com, 17 May 2017
The jokes, by screenwriters Van Robichaux and Evan Susser, have all the wit of a punch-drunk palooka.
—Michael O'Sullivan, The Mercury News, 17 Feb. 2017
The jokes (by screenwriters Van Robichaux and Evan Susser) have all the wit of a punch-drunk palooka.
—Michael O'Sullivan, The Denver Post, 17 Feb. 2017
Bill Reinhard, New York Daily News, 12 Dec. 2024
One year after the Academy bafflingly ignored his work in Sideways, Giamatti finally scored his first Oscar nomination for his purely entertaining performance as boxing manager Joe Gould in Ron Howard’s proudly old-fashioned Depression-era palooka drama.
—A.a. Dowd, Vulture, 10 Mar. 2024
Sylvester Stallone's underdog tale about a struggling palooka given one shot at the heavyweight championship is a stirring sports movie with a level of charm and sweetness that dissipated in the rounds (and rounds) of sequels that followed.
—Brian Lowry, CNN, 25 July 2019
All this real guts and glory in Philadelphia, yet one of the big tourist attractions is to run up the Art Museum steps the way a palooka named Rocky Balboa did on the silver screen.
—Bill Livingston, cleveland.com, 1 Jan. 2018
Without it, director Phillipe Falardeau's film would be a fairly unremarkable, fairly familiar ride, telling the tale of a big-hearted but undisciplined palooka whose biggest hurdle in life is his own bad judgment.
—Mike Scott, NOLA.com, 17 May 2017
The jokes, by screenwriters Van Robichaux and Evan Susser, have all the wit of a punch-drunk palooka.
—Michael O'Sullivan, The Mercury News, 17 Feb. 2017
The jokes (by screenwriters Van Robichaux and Evan Susser) have all the wit of a punch-drunk palooka.
—Michael O'Sullivan, The Denver Post, 17 Feb. 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for palooka
Noun
-
But keep going, turn a corner, and the museum reveals itself: a field filled with the hulks of old airplanes and a series of hangars that hint at more treasures inside.—
CNN.com Wire Service,
Mercury News,
5 Aug. 2025
-
Remember: Without the stunning moment when the boat kisses that frozen hulk, this Best Picture winner is just another Romeo and Juliet knockoff.—
EW Staff Published,
EW.com,
3 July 2025
Noun
-
The houseguests then voted between the two comp losers, and when Julie announced the results, Will was evicted by a vote of 3-2 and became the season’s second jury member.—
Nick Caruso,
TVLine,
11 Sep. 2025
-
Instead of scrolling Twitter, read something about a cranky, divorced loser, like The Invisibility Cloak by Ge Fei, and translated by Canaan Morse.—
James Folta,
Literary Hub,
10 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
Shearer and Teplin had just announced that Witherspoon’s company Hello Sunshine bought their business when Shearer discovered a lump in her right breast.—
Eileen Finan,
PEOPLE,
17 Sep. 2025
-
The cash option is a one-time, lump-sum payment that is equal to all the cash in the Mega Millions jackpot prize pool.—
Detroit Free Press,
Freep.com,
16 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
Now, researchers at Switzerland's ETH Zurich are putting these mechanical mutts through their paces on the badminton court, teaching them to play about as well as a seven-year-old human.—
Abhimanyu Ghoshal,
New Atlas,
26 Aug. 2025
-
So while the French Bulldog nabbed the AKC's top spot for the third year in a row, the winner using Rover's set of criteria was clear: the ever-popular mixed breed — or as many dog lovers affectionately call them, a good old-fashioned mutt.—
Sarah Scanlan,
USA Today,
26 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
Because the traits that make someone a hero in a story can easily lend themselves to being painted as a villain, too.—
Harmeet Kaur,
CNN Money,
13 Sep. 2025
-
Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin play estranged old friends who reconnect at the funeral of a mutual friend, only to realize that their friend's dead husband was really the villain in all their lives.—
PC Magazine,
PC Magazine,
12 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
Seth Rollins gassed Bron up by saying Jey Uso thinks his dad is a loser and his uncle is a moron.—
Alfred Konuwa,
Forbes.com,
18 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
Nothing sends chills down your spine like evil clowns, undead monsters and a filthy car.—
Charlie Vargas,
Oc Register,
12 Sep. 2025
-
Someone should be impeaching this Laporta clown.—
Pol Ballus,
New York Times,
10 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
After World War I, fur remained a status garment, though lower-cost furs like skunk, mole, and musquash entered mainstream winter wear.—
Lydia Patrick,
MSNBC Newsweek,
12 Sep. 2025
-
Around 75% of Americans are exposed to raccoons, skunks and foxes — the very wildlife that commonly spread the fatal disease to humans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.—
Shiv Sudhakar,
FOXNews.com,
5 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Palooka.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/palooka. Accessed 18 Sep. 2025.
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