score to settle

idiom

: something bad that was done to someone that the harmed person keeps in mind in order to do something bad in return
He says he has a few (old) scores to settle.

Examples of score to settle in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web The Blazers have a score to settle from two years ago when Southern Miss took a 37-2 win in Dylan Hopkins’ first career start. Evan Dudley, al, 14 Oct. 2021 The film revisits the same themes of Rocky’s fraught relationship with Apollo, as Adonis reunites, then goes glove-to-glove, with Dame Anderson (Jonathan Majors), an old friend with a score to settle. Jennifer M. Wood, WIRED, 30 Dec. 2022 The actor, who is also a high-profile figure in Scientology — a church that counts dozens of Hollywood actors among its members — denied their claims, effectively maintaining that angry ex-Scientologists had a score to settle and pointed to ex-Scientologist and actress Leah Remini. Victoria Bekiempis, Vulture, 30 Nov. 2022 The Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles also have a score to settle. Jaylon Thompson, USA TODAY, 16 Oct. 2022 Having a score to settle? Tom McCoy, The New Yorker, 5 Aug. 2022 Dean has a score to settle with two of Tampa Bay’s 2022 opponents. Mark Inabinett | Minabinett@al.com, al, 29 June 2022 Miriam eventually disposed of Squier, with the help of two artists from Frank’s publications, one of whom had a score to settle with him. Melanie Kirkpatrick, WSJ, 17 Mar. 2022 But one who did apparently has a score to settle. Jim Towey, National Review, 26 May 2021

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'score to settle.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Dictionary Entries Near score to settle

Cite this Entry

“Score to settle.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/score%20to%20settle. Accessed 29 Mar. 2024.

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