bare-knuckle

adjective

variants also bare-knuckled or bare-knuckles
Definition of bare-knucklenext
as in gladiatorial

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Examples Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for bare-knuckle
  1. in-your-face
  2. combative
  3. pugnacious
  4. take-no-prisoners
  5. belligerent
  6. blood-and-guts
  7. militant
  8. bellicose
Adjective
  • There’s tons of in-your-face werewolf action, big guns and lots of blood and guts in this throwback flick that would feel right at home in a drive-in double feature.
    William Earl, Variety, 6 Dec. 2024
  • India, a team whose 12-year-old unbeaten home record has just been dismantled by New Zealand, taunted them with superior skills and in-your-face backchat.
    Tim Ellis, Forbes, 4 Dec. 2024
Definition of in-your-face
Adjective
  • Jimmy Carter issued a blanket amnesty to Vietnam war draft evaders, following the end of the combative international struggle.
    Mark R. Weaver, Newsweek, 3 Dec. 2024
  • More:Trump names Karoline Leavitt youngest ever White House press secretary Leavitt will take the podium at White House press briefings, which were often combative spectacles during Trump's first term.
    Joey Garrison, USA TODAY, 29 Nov. 2024
Definition of combative
Adjective
  • John Prescott, the pugnacious deputy prime minister to Britain’s Tony Blair during his 10 years in government, has died at age 86 after a battle with Alzheimer’s, his family said Thursday.
    Reuters, NBC News, 21 Nov. 2024
  • For decades, Alec maintained a pugnacious relationship with the press, but photographers who have followed him for years noticed a shift after Rust.
    Reeves Wiedeman, Vulture, 12 July 2024
Definition of pugnacious
Adjective
  • The Lions are the most complete team in the league, a byproduct of their fearless coach’s take-no-prisoners mantra.
    Zak Keefer, The Athletic, 25 Nov. 2024
  • If there is any justice, and the election results could factor into this, Sebastian Stan, perfection as the younger Trump, and a terrific Jeremy Strong as his take-no-prisoners lawyer and mentor Roy Cohn both deserve Oscar consideration.
    Pete Hammond, Deadline, 20 Sep. 2024
Definition of take-no-prisoners
Adjective
  • That will be especially important because China in recent years has strengthened ties with a belligerent Algiers.
    Joseph Epstein, Newsweek, 11 Dec. 2024
  • That’s an unnerving reality for the United States military, which has nearly 30,000 troops and its largest overseas base in South Korea, serving as a check against a belligerent North Korea and counterweight to an aggressive China in a strategically critical region.
    Simone McCarthy, CNN, 4 Dec. 2024
Definition of belligerent
Adjective
  • That realization elevates the film’s campy blood-and-guts from gore to gut-punch.
    Gráinne O'Hara Belluomo, WWD, 1 Dec. 2024
  • 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
Definition of blood-and-guts
Adjective
  • The Syrian escalations take place as Assad’s allies Russia and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah have been increasingly distracted by battle on their own home fronts, engaging Ukraine and Israel, respectively.
    Ruxandra Iordache, CNBC, 8 Dec. 2024
  • But Western hopes of a more moderate Syria sank when the new leader promptly maintained his country’s traditional ties with militant groups, such as Hamas and Hezbollah.
    Simone McCarthy, CNN, 8 Dec. 2024
Definition of militant
Adjective
  • And North Korea’s increasingly bellicose attitude toward its neighbors has roiled China’s diplomatic and economic relations with South Korea and Japan.
    Stephen Hadley, Foreign Affairs, 1 Nov. 2024
  • In addition to this bellicose foreign policy and disregard for American warnings, at home, Putin began to abandon Russia’s reform trajectory, instead combining an open economic system with an authoritarian regime.
    Stephan Kieninger / Made by History, TIME, 30 Oct. 2024
Definition of bellicose
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Thesaurus Entries Near bare-knuckle

barefaced

bare-knuckle

barely

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Cite this Entry

“Bare-knuckle.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bare-knuckle. Accessed 17 Dec. 2024.

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