sucker punching

Definition of sucker punchingnext
present participle of sucker punch

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for sucker punching
Verb
  • Although the Hornets started off struggling behind the 3-point arc against Portland, eventually knocking down 16 of 42 attempts, no team in the league has been on the same plane as Charlotte lately.
    Roderick Boone, Charlotte Observer, 28 Feb. 2026
  • Many of the units are small, and rehabilitation will mean extensive work, knocking down walls to create the larger apartments that young families need.
    Miami Herald Archives, Miami Herald, 27 Feb. 2026
Verb
  • Chinese universities rise in global rankings Beijing’s massive education investments have helped to create dozens of elite institutions, pushing Chinese universities up the global rankings.
    semafor.com, semafor.com, 3 Mar. 2026
  • The products that all these digital marketing efforts are ostensibly pushing are unavailable to most of the people talking about them.
    Rachel Tashjian, CNN Money, 3 Mar. 2026
Verb
  • Last week, investigators announced charges against a contractor accused of illegally dumping construction debris near Southwest 208th Avenue and Southwest 152nd Street.
    Larry Seward, CBS News, 2 Mar. 2026
  • Rhode Island environmental authorities generally frown on dumping snow cleared off the streets into bodies of water.
    Alex Kuffner, The Providence Journal, 27 Feb. 2026
Verb
  • Jones, of Joliet, said his testimony helped convict Joseph Czuba, a Plainfield landlord who was found guilty last year in the stabbing death of 6-year-old Wadee Alfayoumi, a Palestinian American boy who was targeted because of his race and religion.
    Michelle Mullins, Chicago Tribune, 27 Feb. 2026
  • Three of the stabbing victims were dead at the scene and another died while being taken to a hospital.
    Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 26 Feb. 2026
Verb
  • Interrupting grief Meta is not the first Big Tech company to patent a model to keep the formerly alive still kicking online.
    Jacqueline Munis, Fortune, 3 Mar. 2026
  • Leon also faces a Level 6 felony battery count and a misdemeanor charge of resisting law enforcement for kicking a Portage Police officer at the Northwest Health-Portage facility and persistently refusing to follow orders from arresting officers, documents state.
    Jim Woods, Chicago Tribune, 2 Mar. 2026
Verb
  • Makar went to the penalty box for slashing, and the Wild capitalized on the man-advantage when Eriksson Ek popped in the rebound of a Boldy shot.
    Jess Myers, Twin Cities, 27 Feb. 2026
  • The Council was able to avoid layoffs, balancing its billion dollar budgets by slashing vacant positions and hiking fees for parking and other programs, in those years.
    Ishani Desai, Sacbee.com, 26 Feb. 2026
Verb
  • Only Byrne’s flashes of humor and desperately flailing humanity keep her on this side of monstrous.
    Culture Critic, Los Angeles Times, 25 Feb. 2026
  • Dropping off signatures is a way to highlight a candidate's support and can weed out flailing campaigns from serious ones.
    Stacey Barchenger, AZCentral.com, 23 Feb. 2026
Verb
  • Jefferies analysts, led by Peramunetilleke, found that MongoDB’s moat could get disrupted if AI coding tools weaken database selection, leaving developers less tied to a single database architecture as switching costs decline.
    Pia Singh, CNBC, 1 Mar. 2026
  • But without the push-pull of switching between Grace and Leon, the game starts to drag like an overly long action movie.
    Jay Peters, The Verge, 1 Mar. 2026
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.

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Cite this Entry

“Sucker punching.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sucker%20punching. Accessed 4 Mar. 2026.

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