pistol-whipping

verb

present participle of pistol-whip
as in strapping

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for pistol-whipping
  1. flagellating
  2. assaulting
  3. punching
  4. attacking
  5. slapping
  6. smacking
  7. thwacking
  8. boxing
Verb
  • Some go further, flagellating themselves or using a sword to strike their forehead to draw blood.
    — Nabih Bulos, Los Angeles Times, 22 June 2026
  • His only way of finding any kind of life for himself is to embrace evil, to stop running away from it, to try to stop morally flagellating himself.
    — Charlotte Observer, Charlotte Observer, 25 Feb. 2026
Definition of flagellating
Verb
  • One of their bookshop employees was John Waters, later to become renowned as the taboo-assaulting filmmaker.
    — Matthew Carey, Deadline, 3 July 2026
  • Kieran McCool, 57, was convicted of assaulting a community worker.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 3 July 2026
Definition of assaulting
Verb
  • But that hasn’t stopped one of the country’s increasingly renowned grape-growing regions from punching well above its weight.
    — Tori Latham, Robb Report, 18 July 2026
  • Video footage of the incident appears to show two officers struggling with Hardy, with one of them punching her before taking her to the ground.
    — Hema Sivanandam, Mercury News, 17 July 2026
Definition of punching
Verb
  • Spain’s front men are difficult to ignore Despite only one attacking return, Lamine Yamal ($10m) is still Spain’s most exciting fantasy option.
    — Abdul Rehman, New York Times, 14 July 2026
  • With control of a device, the hackers then use it as an exit node when probing or attacking targets in the communications, defense, energy, financial services, and government sectors.
    — Dan Goodin, ArsTechnica, 13 July 2026
Definition of attacking
Verb
  • But when their panel ended, the sports stars got into a heated exchange that ended with Brady slapping Paul in the face.
    — Angelique Jackson, Variety, 18 July 2026
  • As seen in a video posted by Fanatics on Instagram and X, the former NFL quarterback traded words with Paul face-to-face before slapping him, and was ultimately pulled away.
    — Ingrid Vasquez, PEOPLE, 18 July 2026
Definition of slapping
Verb
  • With a Triple-A pitcher called up for a spot start and a utilityman smacking an early two-run homer, the Boston Red Sox, having now won eight straight games, keep winning with an unlikely formula.
    — Jen McCaffrey, New York Times, 12 July 2026
  • The first mode is a more simple impact detonation — simply put, smacking the asteroid's surface to create a shallow crater, in which a nuclear device is exploded.
    — Elizabeth Howell, Space.com, 7 July 2026
Definition of smacking
Verb
  • Modern readers may take heart in the fact that there are many excellent critics thwacking through the slop—albeit with freelance machetes, on newfangled platforms.
    — Brittany Allen, Literary Hub, 27 Apr. 2026
  • Max Weinberg sat at his set, thwacking his floor tom, while Lahav fiddled with his dials, stalked into the studio to unplug, replug, and then just physically move the microphone closer to the set, then to the side, and then farther away.
    — Peter Ames Carlin, Rolling Stone, 13 Aug. 2025
Definition of thwacking
Verb
  • The Washington Post took a look at how the designation risks boxing the US out of Syria’s recovery.
    — Eleanor Mueller, semafor.com, 8 July 2026
  • Instead of scoring points, Richard was more focused on making the right defensive rotation, making passes and boxing out.
    — Joseph Dycus, Mercury News, 6 July 2026
Definition of boxing
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

pistol-whipped
pistol-whipping
pistol-whips
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Cite this Entry

“Pistol-whipping.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pistol-whipping. Accessed 19 Jul. 2026.

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