How to Use (be) spoiling for in a Sentence

(be) spoiling for

idiom

• Fans, spoiling for a fight, shared his video in the millions.
  — Saritha Rai, Bloomberg.com, 14 June 2020
• And some of the cast members are spoiling for that to happen.
  — Peter Marks, Washington Post, 12 May 2023
• Much of the American right is spoiling for a fight, in the most literal sense.
  — Fintan O’Toole, The Atlantic, 16 Dec. 2021
• Outside, Jason says, their neighbor’s buddy was banging on their windows, pissed about the egging and spoiling for a fight.
  — Katherine Laidlaw, Wired, 9 Sep. 2021
• The music has stopped, and the former partners are spoiling for a years-long fight that will make US v. Microsoft pale in comparison.
  — Nicolás Rivero, Quartz, 21 Dec. 2020
• However, that’s probably not the fight Our Power is spoiling for.
  — Greg Jefferson, ExpressNews.com, 4 Sep. 2020
• Elsewhere in the capital, responding to his call, Thousands of his followers were spoiling for a brawl.
  — John Lithgow, The New Yorker, 27 Sep. 2021
• After her shift, election supervisor Rebekah Doughty said her lip hurt from biting it so hard, as almost half the voters who came in were spoiling for a fight.
  — Diana Marcum, Los Angeles Times, 14 Sep. 2021
• Without your being able to recognize it, someone might be spoiling for a fight or feeling defensive.
  — The Astrotwins, ELLE, 13 Nov. 2022
• Without your being able to recognize it, someone might be spoiling for a fight or feeling defensive.
  — The Astrotwins, ELLE, 13 Nov. 2022
• And some Republicans appeared to be spoiling for a fight with the generally unflappable Blinken.
  — Compiled Democrat-Gazette Staff From Wire Reports, Arkansas Online, 14 Sep. 2021
• California governor Gavin Newsom has been spoiling for a fight on the national stage.
  — Noah Rothman, National Review, 3 Aug. 2023
• But every year, a large portion of his contemporary issues class was white, conservative and spoiling for a chance to debate a real live liberal.
  — Hannah Natanson, Anchorage Daily News, 6 Dec. 2021
• Years removed from regular stints in the operating room, Adams finds himself in an administration that often comes off as an empire of mean, defined by a White House spoiling for a fight.
  — Washington Post, 12 July 2020
• Key constituencies within the Democratic Party’s universe, however, are spoiling for a fight and bringing pressure for change.
  — Matt Ford, The New Republic, 16 Mar. 2021
• Wary of being tethered to his great novels of the nineteen-seventies, Reed is spoiling for a comeback, and a younger generation receptive to his guerrilla media criticism may be along for the ride.
  — Julian Lucas, The New Yorker, 19 July 2021
• The other was deadly serious, and some who ventured there ended up spoiling for civil war, committing violent crimes, and brandishing knives, guns, and bullwhips against their phantoms.
  — Virginia Heffernan, Wired, 22 Sep. 2020
• That missing context gives the impression Jorgensen was spoiling for a fight with those establishment Republicans who had endorsed his opponent in the leadership race.
  — Bryan Schott, The Salt Lake Tribune, 5 May 2021
• But Godard leaves behind a singular cinematic past, ever spoiling for debate and argument with a new audience.
  — Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune, 13 Sep. 2022
• Right-wing Republicans who represent a minority in their party and in Congress have succeeded in sowing mass dysfunction, spoiling for a shutdown, an impeachment and a House coup.
  — Carl Hulse, New York Times, 23 Sep. 2023

Last Updated: 12 Nov 2024