as in to stab
to penetrate or hold (something) with a pointed object
she speared a pea with her fork and angrily flung it
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of spear
Terry Ward, CNN Money, 20 Dec. 2025
Homemade potato chips come speared on a wooden skewer, perfect for pulling and snacking.
—Roger Naylor, AZCentral.com, 6 Dec. 2025
Greta Cross, USA Today, 18 Mar. 2026
Most importantly sharpening the tip of the spear — get the offensive line right.
—Los Angeles Times, 14 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for spear
Verb
The knife remains in the dominant hand, poised to cut when necessary or push food that can’t be speared atop the fork’s overturned tines.
—Terry Ward, CNN Money, 20 Dec. 2025
Homemade potato chips come speared on a wooden skewer, perfect for pulling and snacking.
—Roger Naylor, AZCentral.com, 6 Dec. 2025
Noun
Ukraine is the tip of the spear for the democratic embrace of dreams.
—Greta Cross, USA Today, 18 Mar. 2026
Most importantly sharpening the tip of the spear — get the offensive line right.
—Los Angeles Times, 14 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for spear
Recent Examples of Synonyms for spear
Verb
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The teen was involved in an argument when his adversary stabbed him multiple times with a knife, said police.—
Colin Mixson,
New York Daily News,
31 Mar. 2026
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Police allege the suspect then recklessly stabbed backward numerous times, striking the victim in the leg, according to Jaques.—
Justin Muszynski,
Hartford Courant,
30 Mar. 2026
Noun
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Look no further than shortstop Mookie Betts this week lauding the effects of throwing a javelin.—
Maddie Lee,
Los Angeles Times,
18 Mar. 2026
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Humans have been throwing javelins for a few hundred thousand years, yet performance has largely plateaued.—
R. Alexander Bentley,
The Conversation,
26 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Armed with my beloved buns (one already torn into) the rest of the flight slipped by, until New York’s piercing skyline came firmly into view.—
Arati Menon,
Condé Nast Traveler,
25 Mar. 2026
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The bullet that struck McKay passed through his arm, pierced his torso and struck his heart inside the Key Gardens burger joint, on Metropolitan Ave.—
Colin Mixson,
New York Daily News,
25 Mar. 2026
Noun
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Their sizes range from 4 inches to 4 feet tall, and their heart- and lance-shaped leaves can be smooth, wavy, or variegated.—
Karen Brewer Grossman,
Southern Living,
26 Feb. 2026
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Warhorses charge, lances down, crashing through the tilts as lances break on shields and men topple from their steeds.—
Erik Kain,
Forbes.com,
26 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Production quirks like volume and pitch changes, multiple beat switches, brash sonic redirections punctuated by everything from samples of glass shattering to synth stabs puncturing through sheaths of filters, make for a kind of chaotic symphony that feels deliriously of the moment.—
Jeff Ihaza,
Rolling Stone,
25 Mar. 2026
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Beckett’s patter of repetitions and reversals—as the tape is rewound, replayed, and punctured by Krapp’s speech in the present—resembles Lerner’s technique.—
Hannah Gold,
Harpers Magazine,
24 Mar. 2026
Verb
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While his peers aimed to achieve maximum tension by barking about capitalism over jabbing, if not outright obnoxious, guitars, Shaw scrapped layer after layer—distortion pedals, crash cymbals, eventually the drum machine itself—to crystalize his band’s own sound.—
Nina Corcoran,
Pitchfork,
24 Mar. 2026
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In the months since, Adams has continued to jab at his successor in social media posts.—
ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE THE ASSOCIATED PRESS,
Arkansas Online,
18 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Your job is to pick and choose your way through the heap.—
Zachary Fine,
New Yorker,
31 Mar. 2026
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Boo and Scout were hand-picked for the Bidens by staff at the animal welfare group.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
30 Mar. 2026
Verb
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The astronauts will stick close to home for the first 25 hours of their 10-day test flight, checking out the capsule in orbit around Earth before firing the main engine that will propel them to the moon.—
Marcia Dunn,
Chicago Tribune,
2 Apr. 2026
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The average commuter spends 63 hours a year stuck in traffic.—
Jessica Guynn,
USA Today,
1 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Spear.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/spear. Accessed 2 Apr. 2026.
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