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 Buckeyes play a fast, in-your-face type of hockey that relies on keeping players fresh with quick line shifts.—
Cameron Teague Robinson,
New York Times,
27 Mar. 2025 -
The romance that bloomed between Michael and Toby’s HR department replacement, Holly Flax, could only have happened so in-your-face with a Libra woman, and that ability to match his silliness is also a common attribute for Libra.—
Lisa Stardust,
People.com,
24 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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Small, combative players who can win second balls will do the job.—
Sam Lee,
New York Times,
28 Mar. 2025
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The moment was classic Fine, a politician who may be the Florida legislature’s brashest and most combative.—
Jeffrey Schweers,
The Orlando Sentinel,
26 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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Official government accounts are now filled with right-wing memes, cinematic videos and pugnacious statements.—
Matt Brown,
Los Angeles Times,
23 Mar. 2025
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His primary professional experience over the last decade has been picking fights and shaping narratives as a pugnacious media personality.—
Eric Cortellessa,
TIME,
24 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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My mother is a take-no-prisoners kind of woman; in fact, all the women in my family are bulldozers.—
Anna Lee Iijima,
Chicago Tribune,
18 Mar. 2025
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Allen Iverson, another take-no-prisoners competitor, had 35 for the East.—
Jerry McDonald,
The Mercury News,
14 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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The American military presence in Asia is seen by allies as a critical counterbalance in a fractious region where China has been rapidly expanding its military might and a belligerent North Korea has been empowered by closer ties with Russia.—
Brad Lendon,
CNN Money,
2 Apr. 2025
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Successful long ago, Shelley is no longer a selling Machine of any sort, and mostly just begs for a break in comically desperate appeals that ping-pong from belligerent to pathetic.—
Greg Evans,
Deadline,
31 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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This is a blood-and-guts medical-show model, in which everything teeters on the brink of catastrophe at all times and the doctors are adrenaline junkies approximately one shift away from a complete mental breakdown.—
Kathryn VanArendonk,
Vulture,
3 Apr. 2025
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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
Adjective
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Israel ended its ceasefire with the Hamas militant group and renewed its air and ground war last month.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
1 Apr. 2025
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From Myanmar comes the story of a student turned insurgent who joined a militant guerilla group set on overthrowing the country’s military junta.—
The Dial,
The Dial,
1 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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At the same time, Barnes was a crank of operatic grandiosity—thin-skinned, bellicose, distrustful, fickle, and vindictive.—
Susan Tallman,
The Atlantic,
12 Mar. 2025
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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has accused the United States and South Korea of increasing tensions with their joint drills and Pyongyang often responds with bellicose threats.—
Yoonjung Seo,
CNN,
6 Mar. 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 11 Apr. 2025.
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