How to Use strafe in a Sentence

strafe

verb
  • The planes strafed the town.
  • The bullets strafed the living room, missing the woman who was in the back of the home.
    Vincent T. Davis, ExpressNews.com, 6 Apr. 2020
  • Then strut out down the center of a city street as spotlights strafe the sky.
    Vanessa Friedman, New York Times, 3 Nov. 2021
  • The birds will move around the trunk drilling holes that make the trunk look like it’s been strafed by a machine gun.
    Neil Sperry, star-telegram, 27 Apr. 2018
  • So the Japanese thought this would be a lot of fun to come down there and strafe them in the water.
    Nancy Stearns Theiss, The Courier-Journal, 23 Aug. 2017
  • Cousins strafed Brown and the Eagles, passing for 209 yards and three touchdowns, and that was just in the first half.
    Bob Sansevere, Twin Cities, 13 Oct. 2019
  • Bere and Diaz could not sleep as the howling winds and driving rain strafed her friend's home.
    Josh Katzenstein, NOLA.com, 1 Nov. 2017
  • Men claw their way on to troop ships; those ships are strafed or torpedoed or sunk.
    Gary Thompson, Philly.com, 18 July 2017
  • The gun is designed for very close range air-to-air fighting or strafing targets on the ground.
    Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 8 Apr. 2019
  • As Stewart squeezed into the cramped space and reached into the nest, something strafed the human invaders.
    Nanette Asimov, San Francisco Chronicle, 24 May 2018
  • But before the squad’s plane reaches their drop point, it’s strafed with enemy fire.
    Bryan Bishop, The Verge, 9 Nov. 2018
  • But during its offshore path up the edge of the state, Matthew strafed the Florida coast with a large, damaging wind field.
    Ben Crandell, sun-sentinel.com, 2 Sep. 2019
  • So some growers hire helicopters to strafe their crops, using their blades to push higher, warmer air down to the plants.
    Kevin Dupzyk, Popular Mechanics, 20 Mar. 2017
  • So some growers hire helicopters to strafe their crops, using their blades to push higher, warmer air down to the plants.
    Kevin Dupzyk, Popular Mechanics, 20 Mar. 2017
  • Fox likely is out, as likely as the spasm of fear that strafed any Bears fan or observer who came across that report before the Bears faced the Browns.
    Steve Rosenbloom, chicagotribune.com, 26 Dec. 2017
  • The movie suggests that the meek will not only inherit the Earth but also will strafe, slice, bomb and hack their way to it, all for the adoration of their wives and once-sullen kids.
    Mark Kennedy, Detroit Free Press, 26 Mar. 2021
  • In the months leading up to the Normandy invasion, targets up and down the French coastline were bombed and strafed by allied airpower.
    Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 6 June 2019
  • The raptors will sometimes strafe ducks on the water, then focus on any that didn't fly off, and that duck usually becomes the eagle's next meal.
    Val Cunningham Special To The Star Tribune, Star Tribune, 23 Feb. 2021
  • Russian mercenaries were among the hundreds who died as the Americans strafed, bombed and shelled the assault force, Army Brig.
    NBC News, 15 Apr. 2018
  • Parents race to save a boy, who will figure prominently later in the series, as airplanes strafe the streets with gunfire.
    Bill Goodykoontz, azcentral, 19 June 2020
  • Many a pilot flew out in the predawn darkness to strafe and rocket enemy troops all day across the burning hills of Korea, then returned to play cards with his wife at night.
    Jeremy Hsu, Discover Magazine, 5 Jan. 2015
  • Tanks rolled over vehicles, crushing civilians to death, and helicopters strafed major cities from the air.
    Selcan Hacaoglu, Bloomberg.com, 9 Oct. 2017
  • Spastic seabirds, the puffins, murres and a variety of seagulls challenged the boat, sometimes strafing in disdain when no morsels were cast their way.
    Steve Meyer, Anchorage Daily News, 13 June 2018
  • Overhead, a British fighter pilot (Tom Hardy) deals with Nazi aircraft bombing and strafing the survivors and rescuers.
    Gary Thompson, Philly.com, 18 July 2017
  • In one of the war’s most grisly incidents, warplanes strafed a retreating Iraqi column north of Kuwait City, melting man and machine.
    New York Times, 31 Dec. 2019
  • Barrage balloons were already aloft to prevent any German aircraft from strafing the ships.
    The Oregonian, oregonlive, 27 Mar. 2023
  • Bennett was determined to aid the endangered unit and elected to strafe the hostile positions.
    Drew Broach | Staff Writer, NOLA.com, 10 Nov. 2020
  • The 400 guests perched on mirrored cubes amid the great stone ruins to watch the show after nightfall, the runway strafed by fire and lit by the flickering of iron candelabras with elaborate scrollwork.
    Vanessa Friedman, New York Times, 31 May 2018
  • OK, never mind the au jus shower that strafed an otherwise perfectly presentable pair of cargo shorts, this was beef bursting from its French bread base.
    Phil Arvia, Daily Southtown, 29 June 2017
  • At least two Soviet MiGs — accounts of how many exactly vary — appeared suddenly and strafed the Neptune with machine-gun fire that tore into the plane and set the left engine afire.
    Zachariah Hughes, Anchorage Daily News, 30 Mar. 2023

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

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