: a short heavy club
The eighteenth-century audience went to the theatre armed with whistles, rattles, … and sometimes even wooden cudgels.—
Ronald Hayman
Ronald Hayman
cudgeled or cudgelled; cudgeling or cudgelling
ˈkəj-liŋ 
ˈkə-jə-
: to beat with or as if with a cudgel
Synonyms
Examples of cudgel in a Sentence
Noun
a farmer armed with a cudgel drove us off his land
Recent Examples on the Web
Paul Tassi, Forbes, 1 Nov. 2024
Russia, too, has used immigration as a cudgel in its propaganda in Europe, amplifying incidents and protests, including the recent unrest in Britain, through its state media and covert bot networks.
—Steven Lee Myers, New York Times, 10 Aug. 2024
Timothy Ryback, TIME, 26 Apr. 2024
Before long, fairs had such attractions as cudgelling bouts, bearbaiting, and something called gouging.
—Zach Helfand, The New Yorker, 14 Aug. 2023
See all Example Sentences for cudgel 
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Noun
General sentiment on social media also seems positive, with negativity almost entirely centered on one particular plotline involving a non-binary character, now being used as a culture war cudgel.
—Paul Tassi, Forbes, 1 Nov. 2024
Russia, too, has used immigration as a cudgel in its propaganda in Europe, amplifying incidents and protests, including the recent unrest in Britain, through its state media and covert bot networks.
—Steven Lee Myers, New York Times, 10 Aug. 2024
Verb
Hitler exploited his 37% to gridlock legislative processes, to cudgel or crush the political opposition, and ultimately to undermine the country’s democratic structures.
—Timothy Ryback, TIME, 26 Apr. 2024
Before long, fairs had such attractions as cudgelling bouts, bearbaiting, and something called gouging.
—Zach Helfand, The New Yorker, 14 Aug. 2023
See all Example Sentences for cudgel
Dictionary Entries Near cudgel
Cite this Entry
“Cudgel.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cudgel. Accessed 28 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
cudgel
1 of 2 noun
cud·gel
ˈkəj-əl
: a short heavy club
cudgel
2 of 2 verb
cudgeled or cudgelled; cudgeling or cudgelling
-(ə-)liŋ
: to beat with or as if with a cudgel
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