skunking

verb

present participle of skunk
1
as in overcoming
to defeat by a large margin we ended up skunking them, as our goalie was able to prevent the other team from scoring a single goal

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance
2
as in defeating
to achieve a victory over our football team consistently skunks our traditional rivals Thanksgiving after Thanksgiving

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in cheating
to rob by the use of trickery or threats unwilling to let suppliers skunk him, the restaurant owner inspected every shipment before signing off on it

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for skunking
  1. overcoming
  2. defeating
  3. cheating
  4. whipping
  5. mastering
  6. stinging
  7. bombing
  8. beating
Verb
  • The discovery opens up new possibilities for heat management in next-generation quantum devices, overcoming bottlenecks faced earlier.
    — Ameya Paleja, Interesting Engineering, 24 Aug. 2026
  • Wachter said some young buyers are overcoming high housing costs by looking at older homes and fixer-uppers, putting their own time and labor into improvements or even renting out part of the property to help cover costs.
    — Tatiana Sataua, Fortune, 20 Aug. 2026
Definition of overcoming
Verb
  • Flag football Panorama pulled off the biggest upset of the week, defeating Eagle Rock in four overtimes.
    — Eric Sondheimer, Los Angeles Times, 24 Aug. 2026
  • Day denied that defeating Sununu is his ultimate objective, instead describing his campaign as an experiment in using third-party candidates to force the major parties to keep their promises.
    — Samantha-Jo Roth, The Washington Examiner, 24 Aug. 2026
Definition of defeating
Verb
  • The Model 3 and Model Y adopted less elaborate press-and-pivot handles, helping give the cars their clean, wind-cheating profiles.
    — Peter Lyon, Forbes.com, 22 Aug. 2026
  • The British-Argentine actor’s point has less to do with her conflicted con artist cheating death numerous times and besting her mobster in-laws, as well as the FBI.
    — Brian Davids, HollywoodReporter, 20 Aug. 2026
Definition of cheating
Verb
  • Whisk with ¾ cup whole milk and use in any sweet recipe that doesn’t require whipping.
    — Sarah Martens, Better Homes & Gardens, 21 Aug. 2026
  • At the landing zone, with bullets whipping and cracking around them, Capers—barely clinging to consciousness—refused to board the helicopter until every last man, and his dog’s body, was aboard.
    — Ethan Rocke, Charlotte Observer, 20 Aug. 2026
Definition of whipping
Verb
  • But for a novice, relying on AI before mastering the fundamentals creates a technical debt that leads to a lack of depth.
    — Jason Corso, Time, 26 Aug. 2026
  • But what if the biggest output of mastering AI isn't actually a bigger career advantage, but instead the greatest gift is the time saved.
    — Doug Melville, Forbes.com, 23 Aug. 2026
Definition of mastering
Verb
  • The bugs, particularly ticks, ants, mosquitoes and stinging insects, are going to take full advantage thanks to warmer temperatures, according to the National Pest Management Associations (NPMA)'s biannual Bug Barometer®.
    — Alora Bopray, USA Today, 26 Aug. 2026
  • The breakthrough clue was its cnidocysts, specialized cells found in invertebrates such as jellyfish and corals that contain their stinging bits.
    — Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 25 Aug. 2026
Definition of stinging
Verb
  • The status of its nuclear program, degraded by bombing strikes in 2025, hasn't changed.
    — Susan Page, USA Today, 25 Aug. 2026
  • Prabowo vowed the government would continue supporting firefighting operations, including through the deployment of additional water-bombing helicopters and oxygen supplies for firefighters.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 24 Aug. 2026
Definition of bombing
Verb
  • Mizzou fans fumed about beating KU but playing in the lesser bowl.
    — Pete Grathoff, Kansas City Star, 25 Aug. 2026
  • Clark won a solid 56% of the vote in the Democratic primary, beating Blair and others, and Chavez ran unopposed in the Republican primary.
    — Irene Wright, USA Today, 25 Aug. 2026
Definition of beating
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

skunked
skunking
skunks
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Skunking.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/skunking. Accessed 30 Aug. 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!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

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

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

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?

Commonly Misspelled Words
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

Even More Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

The Words of the Week - Aug. 28

Why do we say 'break a leg'?
See More

Popular

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of
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
skateboard-dog-hat
Wordmaxxing Slang Quiz Give your vocabulary a glow up by getting sendy w...
See All