as in batons
a heavy rigid stick used as a weapon or for punishment
a farmer armed with a cudgel drove us off his land
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Recent Examples of cudgels
Ian Buruma, New Yorker, 22 Sep. 2025
While the conservative pushback and Trump’s cudgels are encouraging some companies to abandon formal DEI policies, analysts say an emphasis on diversity continues and is quietly evolving beneath the surface.
—William Becker, The Hill, 11 Aug. 2025
Major events, like football games, are often used as cudgels to force a deal, with both the distributor and broadcaster eager to ensure the events are available to subscribers.
—Alex Weprin, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019
Noun
When words lose their original meanings and are repurposed as verbal cudgels, the public sphere becomes a jungle of denunciation, intimidation, and even violence.
—Ian Buruma, New Yorker, 22 Sep. 2025
While the conservative pushback and Trump’s cudgels are encouraging some companies to abandon formal DEI policies, analysts say an emphasis on diversity continues and is quietly evolving beneath the surface.
—William Becker, The Hill, 11 Aug. 2025
Major events, like football games, are often used as cudgels to force a deal, with both the distributor and broadcaster eager to ensure the events are available to subscribers.
—Alex Weprin, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cudgels
Noun
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The video shows officers used Tasers again and struck him with batons, but Runyen in the video said both were ineffective.—
Rosalio Ahumada,
Sacbee.com,
20 Mar. 2026
-
Right, Rodney King was batons, Eric Garner with a chokehold.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
12 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Consider two investors, one who invests $7,500 at the beginning of the year, and another who chops it up into $288 biweekly investments.—
Ryan Ermey,
CNBC,
24 Feb. 2026
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The proposal chops $150 million from the Developmental Disabilities Administration, which battled against the largest budget cut in last year's negotiations.—
JT Moodee Lockman,
CBS News,
21 Jan. 2026
Noun
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This will help the remaining canes and new stems have the room to grow more easily.—
Madeline Buiano,
Martha Stewart,
12 Mar. 2026
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Repeating this cycle helps replace older canes with new, stronger growth.—
Karen Brewer Grossman,
Southern Living,
10 Mar. 2026
Verb
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With runners on the corners, Martinez whacks a two-run, RBI double to tie it at five.—
Zoe Collins Rath,
Austin American Statesman,
27 Mar. 2026
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Then little Holly Wheeler and her 10-year-old friends, including the Season 5 favorite Derek (Jake Connelly), all swarm into the basement and take over the D&D table in a passing of the torch that basically whacks the audience over our collective heads.—
Kelly Lawler,
USA Today,
31 Dec. 2025
Verb
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Labin details the elaborate process of elimination that determines which socks to bring to the festival each year.—
Scott Neuman,
NPR,
26 Mar. 2026
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The makeup department added scars to Shaynak’s knees and legs to reflect his character’s backstory, but the compression socks Shaynak wore were his own.—
Marah Eakin,
Vulture,
6 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Nick Phillips, with Applied Digital, said the tax exemption ban effectively boxes out data centers from building in South Dakota.—
Makenzie Huber,
States Newsroom,
19 Feb. 2026
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The rich Redfellows get dispatched one by one in scenes that are fun but empty — neither cathartic nor comic, simply boxes to be checked off to great big poundings of thunder and harpsichords.—
Amy Nicholson,
Los Angeles Times,
18 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
Lo then bludgeons Richard in the head with a metal pipe and kills him.—
Patrick Ryan,
USA Today,
11 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Bouchard hammers the math, but fans and media are influenced by exciting plays, and everyone has bias about specific player types.—
Allan Mitchell,
New York Times,
13 Mar. 2026
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Using a large mallet, the magician hammers the automaton, played in the film by a real-life human actor, into smaller and smaller sizes.—
G. Allen Johnson,
San Francisco Chronicle,
27 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Cudgels.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cudgels. Accessed 4 Apr. 2026.
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