variants
also bare-knuckled
or bare-knuckles
as in gladiatorial
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of bare-knuckle
The 2022 bare-knuckle holiday sensation Violent Night followed an embittered Santa, armed with lethal combat skills, who takes out a team of ruthless mercenaries to rescue a girl and her family.
—
Justin Kroll, Deadline, 10 Sep. 2025
And to go bare-knuckle with the Chargers.
—Troy Renck, Denver Post, 7 Sep. 2025
As Republicans moved to have state legislatures under their umbrella of control add more favorable seats to the 2026 midterm maps in Texas, Ohio and Indiana, Newsom matched the bare-knuckle approach with a new version of California's congressional maps that would eliminate five GOP-leaning seats.
—Phillip M. Bailey, USA Today, 24 Aug. 2025
His best bare-knuckle performance came in a 2024 win over ex-Bellator champion Daniel Straus.
—Brian Mazique, Forbes.com, 19 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for bare-knuckle
Justin Kroll, Deadline, 10 Sep. 2025
And to go bare-knuckle with the Chargers.
—Troy Renck, Denver Post, 7 Sep. 2025
As Republicans moved to have state legislatures under their umbrella of control add more favorable seats to the 2026 midterm maps in Texas, Ohio and Indiana, Newsom matched the bare-knuckle approach with a new version of California's congressional maps that would eliminate five GOP-leaning seats.
—Phillip M. Bailey, USA Today, 24 Aug. 2025
His best bare-knuckle performance came in a 2024 win over ex-Bellator champion Daniel Straus.
—Brian Mazique, Forbes.com, 19 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for bare-knuckle
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bare-knuckle
- gladiatorial
- in-your-face
- combative
- pugnacious
- confrontational
- take-no-prisoners
- belligerent
- blood-and-guts
Adjective
-
At the conference, Farage appeared onstage in a blaze of pyrotechnics and gladiatorial chords.—
Sam Knight,
New Yorker,
21 Sep. 2025
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Under his rule, the teens are pitted against each other (and other supes) in gladiatorial-style combat.—
EW.com,
EW.com,
19 Aug. 2025
Adjective
-
With Hedda, as with all her scores, Gudnadóttir remains distinctive without being in-your-face.—
Scott Roxborough,
HollywoodReporter,
2 Oct. 2025
-
Marketwatch was the first really in-your-face deal.—
Jim Cramer,
CNBC,
28 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Newsom has been trying to raise his national profile, adopting a combative style that parodies Trump’s social media strategy with similar all-caps posts, memes and merchandise.—
Adriana Gomez Licon,
Fortune,
26 Oct. 2025
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The combative Andy Robertson produced the pass of the match to release Ekitike for the equaliser and like Jones, the Scottish left-back really should keep his place at Brentford with Conor Bradley set to continue on the right after Jeremie Frimpong limped off with another hamstring injury.—
James Pearce,
New York Times,
23 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
Delightfully pugnacious contempt for plot and human interest.—
New York Times,
New York Times,
16 Oct. 2025
-
Andre was shorter and heavyset, with a long beard and pugnacious face.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
9 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Unlike the confrontational drudgery of couples therapy — and aiming to avoid the confrontational finality of divorce — this approach relies on subterfuge.—
Sheri Linden,
HollywoodReporter,
23 Oct. 2025
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While that might sound confrontational, the 12-track project is also the most vulnerable work she’s done.—
Meagan Jordan,
Rolling Stone,
23 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
The film’s revolutionaries, who call themselves the French 75, come clothed in the take-no-prisoners rhetoric and fist-in-the-air attitude that’s been the signifier of righteous radicalism since the late ’60s.—
Owen Gleiberman,
Variety,
17 Sep. 2025
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Directed by genre-hopping Ben Wheatley and written by John Wick creator Derek Kolstad from a story hatched by Kolstad and Odenkirk, the subversive Western is a take-no-prisoners gore fest that peppers all the visceral carnage with an equal sprinkling of dry wit.—
Michael Rechtshaffen,
HollywoodReporter,
15 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Second, having quickly been identified by internet bloodhounds, the actual offending Polish paving magnate issued a belligerent non-apology.—
NEAL RUBIN,
Freep.com,
10 Sep. 2025
-
Medvedev, a former president of Russia and an ally of incumbent President Vladimir Putin, has been known to make belligerent comments against the West, which have likely been approved by the Kremlin.—
Brendan Cole,
MSNBC Newsweek,
6 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Dawn of the Dead's flood of blood-and-guts is among the most memorable in film history, if only for the unnaturally vivid shades of red.—
Randall Colburn,
Entertainment Weekly,
6 Oct. 2025
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Still, these sections lack the blood-and-guts tension of her interactions with her mother.—
Madeline Leung Coleman,
Vulture,
27 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Bare-knuckle.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bare-knuckle. Accessed 30 Oct. 2025.
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