as in dazed
suffering from mental confusion
punch-drunk from having stayed up all night, she struggled through the exam
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Recent Examples of punch-drunk
That’s a bigger punchline than a punch-drunk Russian robot.
—
Newsweek Staff, MSNBC Newsweek, 13 Nov. 2025
Candy thought so too, later recalling that the only hard part of filming the scene was doing it over and over again for Hughes and his punch-drunk crew.
—Lizz Schumer, PEOPLE, 7 Oct. 2025
Guiducci arrives at a moment when some of that anger has subsided, and the punch-drunk culture seems counterintuitively eager to escape into nostalgia and tastemaking, splashy profiles, and — just sometimes — confrontational journalism.
—Max Tani, semafor.com, 25 Aug. 2025
Having given us a punch-drunk vision of romantic dilemmas in her masterpiece of a debut, Song now delivers a more practical, hangover-adjacent look at how the human need for relationships gets turned into a bespoke luxury item.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 12 June 2025
Only the most punch-drunk partisan would give Republicans as much as a 50-50 chance of succeeding Gavin Newsom.
—Mark Barabak, Mercury News, 30 Apr. 2025
It’s better described as a series of springy volleys backward and forward through time—the movie ping-pongs between 2019 and 2006, with stops in between—that leave you feeling a little dizzy, even a bit punch-drunk.
—Stephanie Zacharek, TIME, 26 Apr. 2024
The notion that anyone might make a beeline to turn this punch-drunk nonsense into a new Statham franchise seems unlikely.
—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 Jan. 2024
What’s going on is that the movie is getting punch-drunk.
—Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 12 Mar. 2023
Newsweek Staff, MSNBC Newsweek, 13 Nov. 2025
Candy thought so too, later recalling that the only hard part of filming the scene was doing it over and over again for Hughes and his punch-drunk crew.
—Lizz Schumer, PEOPLE, 7 Oct. 2025
Guiducci arrives at a moment when some of that anger has subsided, and the punch-drunk culture seems counterintuitively eager to escape into nostalgia and tastemaking, splashy profiles, and — just sometimes — confrontational journalism.
—Max Tani, semafor.com, 25 Aug. 2025
Having given us a punch-drunk vision of romantic dilemmas in her masterpiece of a debut, Song now delivers a more practical, hangover-adjacent look at how the human need for relationships gets turned into a bespoke luxury item.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 12 June 2025
Only the most punch-drunk partisan would give Republicans as much as a 50-50 chance of succeeding Gavin Newsom.
—Mark Barabak, Mercury News, 30 Apr. 2025
It’s better described as a series of springy volleys backward and forward through time—the movie ping-pongs between 2019 and 2006, with stops in between—that leave you feeling a little dizzy, even a bit punch-drunk.
—Stephanie Zacharek, TIME, 26 Apr. 2024
The notion that anyone might make a beeline to turn this punch-drunk nonsense into a new Statham franchise seems unlikely.
—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 Jan. 2024
What’s going on is that the movie is getting punch-drunk.
—Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 12 Mar. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for punch-drunk
Adjective
-
This led to a surreal sight at 5-0 in the fourth set, with Safiullin flat on his back receiving treatment for a hip injury while a dazed Ruud tried to revive himself with an ice towel.—
Charlie Eccleshare,
New York Times,
27 May 2026
-
Moments later, dazed residents staggered out as others rushed in to help.—
Rania Abouzeid,
New Yorker,
21 May 2026
Adjective
-
Karl-Anthony Towns, who was on the podium with him, took off his glasses and looked at his teammate with a bewildered expression.—
Ryan Canfield,
FOXNews.com,
22 May 2026
-
Everyone was so relieved to see how bewildered everyone else was that the feeling in this place was almost festive.—
James Wood,
New Yorker,
4 May 2026
Adjective
-
During the initial investigation, authorities determined that the man appeared confused and was experiencing a mental health crisis.—
Anthony Thompson,
USA Today,
30 May 2026
-
Even current and former DeSantis communications staffers appeared confused online about it.—
Lawrence Mower,
Miami Herald,
29 May 2026
Adjective
-
If someone feels rushed, awkward, distracted or overly analyzed, their answers often become guarded and surface-level.—
King Holder,
Rolling Stone,
4 June 2026
-
Out of those, 46 of the crashes involving distracted driving were fatal.—
Finch Walker,
USA Today,
3 June 2026
Adjective
-
Before long, security surrounded the former fan favorite and dragged him out of the arena in handcuffs as stunned fans watched.—
Alejandro Avila OutKick,
FOXNews.com,
4 June 2026
-
In 2019, when Cattelan unveiled the work at the Art Basel Miami art fair in Florida, performance artist David Datuna grabbed the banana from the wall, before peeling and eating it in front of hundreds of stunned fair attendees.—
Jack Guy,
CNN Money,
3 June 2026
Adjective
-
However, from such dizzy heights, the fall from grace has been dramatic.—
James Pearce,
New York Times,
28 May 2026
-
Some adolescents may appear dizzy, disoriented or unusually fatigued.—
Katia Hetter,
CNN Money,
15 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Punch-drunk.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/punch-drunk. Accessed 7 Jun. 2026.
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