variants
also bare-knuckled
or bare-knuckles
as in gladiatorial
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bare-knuckle
Adjective
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The newcomers are aggressive, favoring in-your-face advertisements over partnerships with luxury brands or mingling at high-society events to identify potential clients.—
Kevin Lim,
CNBC,
28 Jan. 2025 -
The women try sketchy cash-advance loans and then giving blood, which turns into a messy set piece, executed with as much in-your-face fluid as gross-out classics like There’s Something About Mary or Monty Python’s Mr. Creosote sketch.—
Fred Topel,
Deadline,
17 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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Writing used to be a pretty combative process for us.—
Bill Kopp,
SPIN,
20 Feb. 2025
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The relationship between the two men naturally proves combative, with Danny unwilling to relinquish his status and Wihlborg impatient with his trainer’s refusal to acknowledge his limitations.—
Frank Scheck,
The Hollywood Reporter,
19 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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Meanwhile, White continues to shape the UFC in his pugnacious image.—
Matt Craig,
Forbes,
6 Feb. 2025
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Strangers in the Night Frank Sinatra, 1967 Ol’ Blue Eyes at perhaps his most elegantly pugnacious.—
Mikael Wood,
Los Angeles Times,
31 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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Allen Iverson, another take-no-prisoners competitor, had 35 for the East.—
Jerry McDonald,
The Mercury News,
14 Feb. 2025
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For Aladdin, Disney’s team built on the take-no-chances, take-no-prisoners lessons of its Broadway predecessors to all but guarantee a quality hit.—
Vulture Editors,
Vulture,
4 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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Trump himself has taken a more belligerent posture toward multiple longtime U.S. allies in recent weeks, saying the U.S. should take over Greenland from Denmark and that Canada should be the 51st state.—
Brian Bennett,
TIME,
25 Feb. 2025
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While breaking that rule was bad enough, King became belligerent when Captain Glenn busted him for drinking too much.—
Gina Ragusa,
EW.com,
3 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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That realization elevates the film’s campy blood-and-guts from gore to gut-punch.—
Gráinne O'Hara Belluomo,
WWD,
1 Dec. 2024
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The striking contrast with everything heard earlier — not just the music but the blood-and-guts oratory — was bewildering, and in the midst of the temporary bewilderment, Melania emerged in her trim, bright-red skirt suit.—
Philip Kennicott,
Washington Post,
19 July 2024
Adjective
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Hamas, which has fought Israeli troops for more than a year in its Gaza stronghold since attacking communities in southern Israel on Oct 7, 2023, said sending tanks showed the threats faced by Israeli troops from militant fighters in the camps.—
Raneen Sawafta and James Mackenzie,
USA TODAY,
25 Feb. 2025
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The militant group hoped the event would revive its battered image.—
Emmett Lindner,
New York Times,
23 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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If Trump’s musings are really aimed at bullying the Canadian government into trade concessions, then his bellicose bluster is self-defeating.—
Lawrence B.A. Hatter / Made by History,
TIME,
4 Feb. 2025
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Consider, for instance, that members of the interim government, despite their Islamist backgrounds, have refrained from any bellicose anti-Israeli rhetoric.—
Volker Perthes,
Foreign Affairs,
24 Jan. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Bare-knuckle.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bare-knuckle. Accessed 3 Mar. 2025.
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