How to Use jugular in a Sentence

jugular

noun
  • Sheridan said that a wound to a vein, such as the jugular, was less likely to spurt.
    San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 June 2019
  • Both teams got the game off to a cautious start, with neither side going for the jugular in the opening ten minutes of the game.
    SI.com, 28 Oct. 2017
  • Later the blind item began to look quaint in the face of brassier players, like TMZ, that were unafraid to name names and go for the jugular.
    Michael Musto, Town & Country, 25 Feb. 2021
  • In his phone call with The Nation, though, Popovich went for the political jugular.
    Jeff McDonald, ExpressNews.com, 1 June 2020
  • The way to stand out from the others is to go hammer and tongs for the opponents’ jugulars, or to try to sound more extreme than the others.
    Jim Jones, idahostatesman, 18 May 2018
  • Others include bleeding within the strap muscles of the neck or damage to the carotid artery or jugular.
    Michael Ruiz, Fox News, 14 Oct. 2021
  • Rising comedy stars are ready to go for the jugular in a setting that’s more rap battle than comedic stage.
    Hunter Johnson, Dallas News, 27 Feb. 2020
  • What was not evident: the deadliest of the wounds had punctured his jugular.
    Geraldine Brooks, The New Yorker, 27 May 2017
  • Best and Meche died; Fletcher was stabbed 1 millimeter away from his jugular.
    Holly Yan, CNN, 28 May 2017
  • In contrast, Biden went for jugular and not the capillaries.
    Walter Shapiro, The New Republic, 6 Jan. 2022
  • Here, the two face off with an increasingly grim back and forth, ending with Lucille Bluth going for the jugular.
    Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 25 Mar. 2021
  • Prediction One has to hope that both teams will go for the jugular in an attempt to make a big statement before the big tournament in the summer.
    SI.com, 26 Mar. 2018
  • With an instinct for the jugular, Trump has picked at the father-son dynamic when unhappy with Chris.
    David Bauder, Star Tribune, 28 Sep. 2020
  • Medill helped prepare Lincoln for a debate in Freeport, urging him to go for Douglas’ jugular.
    Ron Grossman, chicagotribune.com, 26 Feb. 2021
  • Many will take advantage of that and those that are ruthless will go for the jugular of overleveraged players and the stop loss levels of others.
    Clem Chambers, Forbes, 25 Feb. 2021
  • The tube carrying the blood passed through the jugular and into another vein; its tip extended just barely into the top of the heart's right atrium.
    Mark Johnson, jsonline.com, 18 Mar. 2021
  • Carolyn Varanese crumpled to the floor as Smokey went for her jugular while her 57-year-old son beat back the dog with anything in reach, including his mother’s wheelchair.
    Andrew Boryga, sun-sentinel.com, 31 Aug. 2020
  • But a few companies also went right for the nostalgia jugular.
    Sean O'Kane, The Verge, 25 Aug. 2018
  • An instinct to go for the jugular was a hallmark of the governor’s long political career.
    New York Times, 3 Feb. 2022
  • Instead, there arose a blasphemous sidestepping of social science, a practice of going straight for the jugular.
    Bruce McCall, The New Yorker, 12 Dec. 2020
  • On last year’s Cochonnerie (Aerophonic), recorded live in October 2015, the group dispensed with trite buildups and went straight for the jugular from square one.
    Peter Margasak, Chicago Reader, 12 Jan. 2018
  • And lest the whole thing sound kind of uncommercial, the album has several tracks that use those aforementioned teeth to go for the commercial jugular, albeit in an alt-rock, not Top 40, vein.
    Chris Willman, Variety, 26 Aug. 2021
  • The 2020 Buckeyes have a Heisman Trophy finalist quarterback with a big arm, a couple of emerging stars in the receiver corps and a coach willing to take chances and go for the jugular early.
    Nathan Baird, cleveland, 6 July 2020
  • From the moment quarterback Tom Brady whipped the hometown crowd into a froth with his jugular-bulging hype video before kickoff, Buccaneers fans made little use of their seats.
    Los Angeles Times, 10 Sep. 2021
  • Her motivation: fear that the Biden White House and most Democratic consultants are too reasonable and too reluctant to go for the jugular.
    Walter Shapiro, The New Republic, 16 Aug. 2021
  • Andonovski asked his team to play conservatively against Australia, which clearly didn’t fit a cocky, confident team that is used to going for the jugular.
    Kevin Baxter, Los Angeles Times, 28 July 2021
  • Powell's already warmed them up for a big letdown, and if given the opportunity today, will deliver the jugular.
    Oliver Renick, Forbes, 26 Jan. 2022
  • Longtime observers of Mr. Giuliani were not surprised by his ability to go for the jugular of political opponents or his desire to cast himself as the lawman striding to the rescue.
    Marc Santora, New York Times, 19 July 2016
  • Upon finding a murder victim, a secondary character will very gently hold two fingers against the supine victim’s jugular and, less than two seconds later, declare the victim dead.
    Sarah Manguso, The New York Review of Books, 31 May 2020
  • During a second-half surge in which the defense created turnovers on four consecutive possessions, the offense missed its opportunity to go for the jugular.
    Dan Wiederer, chicagotribune.com, 21 Sep. 2021

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

Last Updated: