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
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
-
With existing sanctions on Russia and potentially new ones at stake, the eventual outcome of the Trump-Putin summit will create winners and losers in the energy space.—
Jason Ma,
Fortune,
15 Aug. 2025
-
Legislative appropriations committees could — and did — secretly decide which bills would reach the floors of both houses and just announce the winners and losers without explanation.—
Dan Walters,
Mercury News,
15 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
One day while exercising, a healthy 59-year-old semi-retiree felt a lump in his abdomen.—
Steve Vernon,
Forbes.com,
7 Aug. 2025
-
In 2021, the singer underwent emergency surgery in Miami after finding lumps in her breasts.—
Vanessa Etienne,
People.com,
6 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
So Bull does what any sensible, testicle-loving mutt would do.—
David Fear,
Rolling Stone,
13 Aug. 2025
-
The phrase has become shorthand for a kind of national inferiority syndrome—a sense that Brazil, despite its grand ambitions and global flair, thinks of itself as a mutt trying to hang with pedigrees.—
Shannon Sims,
New Yorker,
30 July 2025
Noun
-
In the preview build, there were two levels: the streets of New York culminating in a fight with the villain Beetle, and the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier that ends with a showdown with Taskmaster.—
Christopher Cruz,
Rolling Stone,
5 Aug. 2025
-
When it was announced that the Disney Destiny would be themed to heroes and villains, the theater creatives knew Hercules had to be the premier show inside the Walt Disney Theater.—
Megan duBois,
Forbes.com,
5 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
Carnival Midway’s cast of trapeze artists, aerialists, jugglers and clowns perform every hour on the half hour, starting at 1:30 p.m. (on weekends, the show kicks off at 11:30a.m.).—
Alex Schechter,
Travel + Leisure,
14 Aug. 2025
-
There’s a patient, dressed as a clown, who has his arm drilled into.—
Jazz Tangcay,
Variety,
7 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
The center is permitted for all native wildlife, ranging from opossums, skunks, raccoons to songbirds, waterfowl, reptiles, and amphibians, Hamlin said.—
Natalie Neysa Alund,
USA Today,
2 July 2025
-
The animals included 12 bats, nine racoons, eight skunks, two groundhogs, a bobcat, three cats and a fox, data shows.—
Stephen Underwood,
Hartford Courant,
14 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Palooka.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/palooka. Accessed 20 Aug. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share