as in body blow
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as in to knock down
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Recent Examples of sucker punch
Steve Bender, Southern Living, 1 Apr. 2026
At the time, Connor Lockwood’s elbow injury felt like a sucker punch.
—Noah Poser, Chicago Tribune, 13 Mar. 2026
The State of the Union speeches of his recent predecessors have also been filled, as this one was, with sucker punches thrown at the opposition party.
—Eliot A. Cohen, The Atlantic, 26 Feb. 2026
Tucker had a different take, saying that Fletcher was trying to sucker punch him.
—Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 20 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for sucker punch
Verb
To control them and tool them apply a growth regulator called sucker punch to the suckers.
—Steve Bender, Southern Living, 1 Apr. 2026
At the time, Connor Lockwood’s elbow injury felt like a sucker punch.
—Noah Poser, Chicago Tribune, 13 Mar. 2026
The State of the Union speeches of his recent predecessors have also been filled, as this one was, with sucker punches thrown at the opposition party.
—Eliot A. Cohen, The Atlantic, 26 Feb. 2026
Tucker had a different take, saying that Fletcher was trying to sucker punch him.
—Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 20 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for sucker punch
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sucker punch
Noun
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But for Sean Buchan, a co-owner of Cerebral Brewing, the Aurora phase could amount to a second economic body blow.—
John Aguilar,
Denver Post,
11 May 2026
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The defeat was a significant body blow to Arsenal’s aspirations, but City’s 1-0 victory over Burnley can strangely be viewed in a positive light for them.—
Mark Carey,
New York Times,
25 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Crews knocked down hot spots inside the containment lines, slowing the fire’s spread.—
Darrell Smith,
Sacbee.com,
12 June 2026
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While the sticker shock of what is typically a $13 trip enraged the masses—the price was initially announced at $150 in April, before it got knocked down to 98 bucks in the face of public backlash—some observers, particularly those from Europe, scoffed at all the outrage.—
Sean Gregory,
Time,
11 June 2026
Noun
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The ball ricocheted off him to his left, where second baseman Santiago Espinal made a last-ditch effort to salvage the play but couldn’t pick up the ball cleanly.—
Maddie Lee,
Los Angeles Times,
13 June 2026
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Labour have, since the 2024 election, lost a number of voters to parties on the liberal-left of the political spectrum, be that the Greens and Liberal Democrats, or Plaid Cymru in Wales and the SNP in Scotland.—
Anand Menon,
Time,
13 June 2026
Verb
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And those are the lucky ones, who weren’t felled by late-season injuries and bumped from the tournament the way Brazil’s Rodrygo, Japan’s Kaoru Mitoma and Germany’s Serge Gnabry were.—
Luke Cyphers,
Sportico.com,
11 June 2026
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There was also a giant tree stretching across Laflin Street about a block from the scene of the fire, after being felled by the storms on Wednesday.—
Adam Harrington,
CBS News,
11 June 2026
Noun
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Before your boss could match dance steps to the music, his opponent was already kicking him in the groin and throwing rabbit punches.—
Letters to the Editor,
Orlando Sentinel,
2 July 2024
Verb
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With half of the stadium decked out in highlighter-orange supporting the Dutch and the other half in royal blue supporting the Japanese, the chants and energy were felt from whistle to whistle from the 69,285 fans in attendance.—
Nick Harris,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
15 June 2026
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Fans decked out in Knicks merchandise filled the streets, subways and office towers with a sea of blue and orange, often fist-pumping strangers with all feeling buoyed by the Knicks pinch-me moments on the march to the championship prize.—
Sportico Staff,
Sportico.com,
14 June 2026
Noun
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The report said witnesses claimed that the airplane lost some altitude before regaining it, then flew at treetop height and turned to the right before disappearing from their view.—
Ben Wheeler,
Kansas City Star,
16 June 2026
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During a fight for the ball by New Zealand defender Finn Surman and Iranian forward Shahriyar Moghanlou, the ball spilled toward Ramin Rezaeian, who tapped into the far post from close range on the right to tie things up 1-1 tie in the 32nd minute.—
Andrew Greif,
NBC news,
16 June 2026
Verb
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Besides lily of the valley, Sperling’s bouquet also had the traditional myrtle, alongside white and cream sweet peas, astilbe, and jasmine.—
Bailey Bujnosek,
InStyle,
8 June 2026
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That can result in dry pockets of flour in the finished baked good and, in the case of creaming butter and sugar, flat or greasy cakes or cookies.—
The Washington Post,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
3 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Sucker punch.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sucker%20punch. Accessed 17 Jun. 2026.
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