as in to stab
to penetrate or hold (something) with a pointed object
she deftly harpooned a shrimp with her skewer and held it over the fire
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Recent Examples of harpoon
Brooke Jarvis, The New Yorker, 19 Aug. 2024
Clad in a full steampunk-style deep-sea diving suit, this animatronic also clutches a harpoon with rogue seaweed hanging from the tip.
—Mary Walrath-Holdridge, USA TODAY, 24 July 2024
Among the accessories are a revolver, compass, fishing rod, harpoon, spear and, of course, the yellow barrels (see the images below).
—Borys Kit, The Hollywood Reporter, 4 July 2024
The most recent shows the interior entryway of that house; an umbrella jar holds several walking sticks and two ancient Inuit harpoons with whale-bone barbs; on the wall above them hangs a gleaming nineteenth-century harpoon gun.
—Annie Proulx, The New Yorker, 30 June 2024
See all Example Sentences for harpoon 
Noun
Nils, for his part, liked to visit this rock with his harpoon.
—Brooke Jarvis, The New Yorker, 19 Aug. 2024
Clad in a full steampunk-style deep-sea diving suit, this animatronic also clutches a harpoon with rogue seaweed hanging from the tip.
—Mary Walrath-Holdridge, USA TODAY, 24 July 2024
Among the accessories are a revolver, compass, fishing rod, harpoon, spear and, of course, the yellow barrels (see the images below).
—Borys Kit, The Hollywood Reporter, 4 July 2024
The most recent shows the interior entryway of that house; an umbrella jar holds several walking sticks and two ancient Inuit harpoons with whale-bone barbs; on the wall above them hangs a gleaming nineteenth-century harpoon gun.
—Annie Proulx, The New Yorker, 30 June 2024
See all Example Sentences for harpoon
Recent Examples of Synonyms for harpoon
Verb
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Her daughter, Martha Moxley, was found bludgeoned and fatally stabbed with a golf club in the backyard of her family’s home in Greenwich’s tony Belle Haven neighborhood on Halloween 1975.Theresa Braine, New York Daily News, 27 Dec. 2024
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She had been beaten so savagely with a golf club belonging to a set in the Skakel house that the club snapped and the killer used a jagged piece to stab her through the neck.Staff report, Hartford Courant, 26 Dec. 2024
Noun
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Burtka opted for the likeness of Poseidon the god of the sea, carrying a trident and wearing shelled armor.Hannah Sacks, People.com, 31 Oct. 2024
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The central Texas trident of communities also saw the seventh-largest numeric increase in population between 2022 and 2023.Beck Andrew Salgado, Austin American-Statesman, 14 Mar. 2024
Verb
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In art and politics equally, 2024 has been—to me, at least—a swerving journey between high peaks and low depths, blind confusions and piercing revelations, the crooked and the straight.Vinson Cunningham, The New Yorker, 25 Dec. 2024
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The wire runs along the catalyst layer, then pierces the ePTFE membrane to connect to the current collector in the back of the electrode.IEEE Spectrum, IEEE Spectrum, 18 Dec. 2024
Noun
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The Greek warrior coin, which was offered for sale in 2020, features a figure holding a spear while draped in a black, blue and white American flag.Josh Wood, The Courier-Journal, 27 Dec. 2024
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Edward Norton supplies the film with a gentle Pete Seeger, someone used to leading audiences in peaceful, utopian song but increasingly mystified by this newcomer who sharpens the folk movement into a spear and then takes the battle in a completely different direction.Joshua Rothkopf, Los Angeles Times, 24 Dec. 2024
Verb
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No matter how well the software operates, tires do get punctured!Richard Bishop, Forbes, 19 Dec. 2024
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These sharp needles could also puncture the digestive tract, which might lead to more severe health issues.Thomas G. Moukawsher, Newsweek, 16 Dec. 2024
Noun
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The retainer then struck her down with a halberd, set the mansion ablaze, and committed seppuku.Nicholas Liu, Vulture, 17 Apr. 2024
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Also, his halberd starts fritzing on the floor before fading out of existence, a reminder that this is all virtual reality—or rather, VR within VR, the metatextual framing of Ubisoft’s latest Assassin’s Creed game.WIRED, WIRED, 16 Nov. 2023
Verb
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The Treasury Secretary and Fed chairman are the two most important economic policy roles in the U.S., and Trump has often jabbed at Powell, who was a Trump appointee during his first term.Derek Saul, Forbes, 22 Nov. 2024
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Riley, an attorney, has jabbed the finger right back at his opponent, pointing out that the influx of migrants from the southern border happened under his watch as Congressman.Josephine Stratman, New York Daily News, 6 Nov. 2024
Verb
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But nothing ever seems to stick, and that's because no experiment has given any hint that quarks and leptons are composite particles.Paul Sutter, Space.com, 24 Dec. 2024
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Barton appears to enjoy juxtaposing the banality of Helen’s life as a wife and mother—flawlessly hosting her husband’s holiday work party, sticking jewels on a crown for a Nativity costume—with the extravagant action of her secret life.Sophie Gilbert, The Atlantic, 24 Dec. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near harpoon
Cite this Entry
“Harpoon.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/harpoon. Accessed 31 Dec. 2024.
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