How to Use bludgeon in a Sentence

bludgeon

1 of 2 noun
  • In a nutshell, anything that can be used as a bludgeon is a no-no.
    Melanie Eversley, USA TODAY, 12 May 2017
  • Check out this brief moment from the trailer, where the Hound bludgeons a White Walker.
    Megan Friedman, Harper's BAZAAR, 14 Aug. 2017
  • The Rams’ Aaron Donald, who leads the league in sacks, bludgeons quarterbacks from the inside.
    Andrew Beaton, WSJ, 13 Dec. 2018
  • Brown’s heavy hands bludgeon blockers at the point of contact, enabling him to reset the line of scrimmage and stack blocks against the run.
    John Owning, Dallas News, 30 Mar. 2020
  • Use the powerful access rights of these statutes wisely, and not as a bludgeon.
    Kelly G. Richardson, sandiegouniontribune.com, 29 Apr. 2017
  • The larger cost is the precedent of using tariffs as a bludgeon on non-trade issues.
    The Editorial Board, WSJ, 9 June 2019
  • Tanaka then watched Toronto bludgeon the Yankees’ bullpen to complete a three-game sweep.
    Billy Witz, New York Times, 1 June 2016
  • The ankylosaurs were armored dinosaurs with large, bludgeon-like tails.
    Sam Walters, Discover Magazine, 7 Dec. 2022
  • Their large could also double as a bludgeon in the unlikely event of a mugging.
    Amy Drew Thompson, orlandosentinel.com, 13 Dec. 2020
  • The biggest bludgeon the skeptics have is that there is uncertainty in the science.
    Fred Guterl, Discover Magazine, 20 Oct. 2010
  • Hobbes tells Marshall that people often use the subject as a bludgeon.
    Rachel Syme, The New Yorker, 12 Oct. 2020
  • Making a list Mr Trump has used sanctions as a bludgeon in high-profile disputes.
    The Economist, 28 Nov. 2019
  • In the Middle East, the idea of hospitality is both sacrament and bludgeon.
    New York Times, 11 Nov. 2021
  • In a fit of rage, Polo picks up the academic statue Marina had just won and bludgeons her.
    Ariana Romero, refinery29.com, 13 Mar. 2020
  • An untreatable infection brings on the transformation quicker, and the only way to stop that is with a bludgeon to the brain.
    Kyle Hill, Discover Magazine, 25 Mar. 2013
  • Unlike Trump, who wields his words like a bludgeon, Apple is hushed, calm, resolute.
    Carrie Battan, The New Yorker, 18 Jan. 2017
  • Stop using fear as a bludgeon, and consider the Reaves family.
    Kathryn Jean Lopez, National Review, 20 Jan. 2020
  • Bludgeon opponents into submission late in games, and ride a killer bullpen to ensure opponents can’t do the same.
    SI.com, 8 May 2017
  • One week later, that promise is being used as a bludgeon against smaller ride-hailing rival Lyft.
    Aarian Marshall, Wired, 12 Feb. 2020
  • The president’s wielding of the anthem as a bludgeon is itself a historical echo.
    Washington Post, 3 Sep. 2020
  • An offense built to bludgeon did so, after almost a week of inability.
    Chandler Rome, Houston Chronicle, 19 Apr. 2018
  • Apple bludgeons Facebook’s performance with $2.1 million in revenue for each person who works there—10 times that of Wal-Mart.
    Kevin Maney, Newsweek, 27 Dec. 2016
  • In reaching for the age-old tariffs bludgeon, America may have hastened the collapse of the global free trading consensus.
    Stephen Collinson, CNN, 15 Jan. 2020
  • New York Times columnist Paul Krugman uses ‘deaths of despair’ as a partisan bludgeon.
    Mona Charen, National Review, 5 Dec. 2019
  • President Donald Trump isn’t the only one wielding a Twitter account like a bludgeon.
    Bill Goodykoontz, azcentral, 7 Jan. 2020
  • Five people died as a result of the attack, and 140 members of law enforcement were injured as the mob used flagpoles, bear spray, baseball bats and other weapons to bludgeon police.
    Meryl Kornfield and Jacqueline Alemany, Anchorage Daily News, 21 Feb. 2023
  • For them, the vote for the largest transportation tax in history will surely be used as a bludgeon by their political opponents.
    Jon Coupal, Orange County Register, 8 Apr. 2017
  • In a lower corner was a dancing figure in ceremonial headdress, wielding an ax in his right hand and a bludgeon in his left.
    Franz Lidz Meghan Dhaliwal, New York Times, 13 Sep. 2022
  • The bill’s main tool, its proverbial bludgeon, is a new set of tax credits that could remake the way that America generates electricity.
    Robinson Meyer, The Atlantic, 28 July 2022
  • In the process, USC has become a punching bag, a bludgeon and a running thread in an increasingly acrimonious mayoral race.
    Matt Hamilton, Los Angeles Times, 11 Sep. 2022
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bludgeon

2 of 2 verb
  • The 26-year-old actress and four friends were bludgeoned, shot and stabbed scores of times.
    Washington Post, 7 Aug. 2019
  • In the long sweep of crimes, dogs were bludgeoned to death in the same manner as people _ with a log.
    Tribune News Service, oregonlive.com, 22 June 2019
  • His body was found bludgeoned at a golf course with leaves and dirt stuffed down his throat.
    Fox News, 23 Aug. 2019
  • Kwok and the three other victims were bludgeoned to death on Oct. 5.
    NBC News, 24 Oct. 2019
  • There’s the hope that scoring chances evolve into goals or that the schedule doesn’t bludgeon the Stars.
    Matthew Defranks, Dallas News, 28 Mar. 2021
  • On the side of the road, Bundy tried to bludgeon her into submission, DaRonch said.
    Adam Carlson, Peoplemag, 18 Dec. 2022
  • Police found Lizzie's father stretched out on the couch in the sitting room bludgeoned to death.
    Erin Moriarty, CBS News, 28 Mar. 2020
  • In 2011, his friend and colleague David Kato was bludgeoned to death.
    Reuters, NBC News, 13 Apr. 2023
  • The 26-year-old actress, Sebring and three others were bludgeoned, shot and stabbed scores of times.
    al, 9 Aug. 2019
  • One of the elderly marks in Kastle’s film is bludgeoned to death by Martha while Ray looks on.
    Doreen St. Félix, The New Yorker, 22 June 2023
  • They were bound and bludgeoned, covered by a comforter.
    Tribune News Service, oregonlive.com, 23 June 2019
  • Long gone are the days when NL and AL players would bludgeon each other for bragging rights.
    Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 19 July 2022
  • Yet Harris chose this issue as a cudgel with which to bludgeon Joe Biden.
    George Will, National Review, 7 July 2019
  • Rushing slit Palmer's throat with a razor and bludgeoned him with a sock stuffed with a softcover book.
    Miguel Torres, The Arizona Republic, 12 Apr. 2023
  • Over two days, she was taken to Arkansas, gang-raped, bludgeoned with a shovel and buried alive.
    Washington Post, 21 June 2019
  • Over two days, Lisa was taken to Arkansas, gang-raped, bludgeoned with a shovel and buried alive.
    Fox News, 21 June 2019
  • Don’t bow to that voice in your head that bludgeons you with oppressive words such as must and have to that demotivate you.
    Bryan Robinson, Forbes, 7 May 2023
  • She had been bludgeoned 36 times with a tool used to check tire inflation on trucks, and blood was spattered around the room, according to court records.
    Justin Jouvenal, Washington Post, 23 Jan. 2020
  • On offense and defense, the Ravens had bludgeoned their way into the postseason.
    Jonas Shaffer, baltimoresun.com, 27 Sep. 2019
  • The grandson of a woman bludgeoned to death in Enfield last month has been arrested and charged with her murder.
    Zach Murdock, courant.com, 4 Sep. 2019
  • He was found guilty of breaking into her home, raping her and bludgeoning her to death with a hammer.
    Marc Freeman, sun-sentinel.com, 27 June 2019
  • One was the abduction and killing of 11-year-old Esther Lebowitz, bludgeoned to death in the basement of a store selling tropical fish.
    Christina Tkacik, baltimoresun.com, 23 July 2019
  • The Padres spent the previous night bludgeoning them, pounding away at a bullpen that collapsed in an 11-run defeat.
    Rainer Sabin, Detroit Free Press, 23 July 2023
  • Each was bound with twine similar to that used in the lodge’s kitchen and bludgeoned to death, having injuries consistent with more than 100 blows.
    al, 21 Nov. 2019
  • It’s well- documented that these creatures will use rocks to bludgeon—read: loosen—food from its perch.
    Daisy Hernandez, Popular Mechanics, 14 Apr. 2022
  • Trump has become one in the course of his frenetic efforts to bludgeon Ron DeSantis with any weapon at hand.
    The Editors, National Review, 1 June 2023
  • Officials have discovered groups of corpses that have been bludgeoned with hammers or had their throats slit.
    Kimon De Greef, The New Yorker, 20 Feb. 2023
  • But at least one other person had different plans, and Winter was bludgeoned to death.
    Saja Hindi, The Denver Post, 12 Sep. 2019
  • While serving a sentence of life in prison, Creech in 1981 bludgeoned a fellow inmate, David Jensen, with a sock filled with batteries, and pleaded guilty to the murder.
    Melissa Quinn, CBS News, 28 Feb. 2024
  • Michigan is a like a sledgehammer that wants to bludgeon teams with its offense and suffocate them with its defense.
    USA TODAY, 8 Jan. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'bludgeon.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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