bludgeon

“It’s because governments usually resort to blunt instruments, opting for the bludgeon of sweeping tariffs and subsidies over the scalpel of industrial parks and skills development programs.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 17, 2026

They were in the game when the hosts stuttered to 137-5 after 17 overs, only for Tahlia McGrath and Grace Harris to bludgeon their way to 185-5.

From BBC ● Jan. 23, 2025

I think to love history and not just cherry-pick it to use as a bludgeon, you have to love complexity.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2023

After their victory, one of them triumphantly tosses his bludgeon, a masculine, violent tool, which morphs into a spaceship.

From Salon ● Oct. 11, 2023

Whatever he said, the swift answer crushed him like a bludgeon.

From "1984" by George Orwell

Hamilton: The widows and orphans and other alleged victims of Girardi mostly remain out of the picture, and if they’re discussed, it’s in a vague or remote way, or as rhetorical bludgeons.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 3, 2021

In many ways this premiere aims to cut like a freshly sharpened blade but instead bludgeons like a baseball bat.

From New York Times ● Apr. 26, 2017

What if a batted ball bludgeons a squirrel in fair territory and sends both ball and squirrel bounding into foul ground?

From Slate ● Jan. 8, 2016

Writing in The Guardian, critic Xan Brooks says of it that it "bludgeons the body and tenderises the soul - it is perplexing, preposterous and utterly fascinating."

From BBC ● Feb. 9, 2014

Lyra obeyed, half happy, half apprehensive, for Ma Costa had hands like bludgeons, and now she was sure: it was their boat she had captured with Roger and the other collegers.

From "The Golden Compass" by Philip Pullman

There was the Erling Haaland game, when Norway’s ponytailed striker bludgeoned Brazil out of the tournament.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026

By now, they’ve been bludgeoned nonstop with A.I. promotions across social media, TV, and their own academic departments.

From Slate ● May 20, 2026

Travis Head bludgeoned a 69-ball century to power Australia to victory over a shell-shocked England in Perth on Saturday in the first Ashes Test.

From Barron's ● Nov. 22, 2025

Jamie Overton top scored for England as he bludgeoned 42 off 28 balls during a counter-attacking knock.

From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2025

If the cottonmouths hadn’t been enraged before, they were now, determined to destroy the possessed branch that had just bludgeoned three of their friends.

From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman

Everyone indulged in prodigious scenery-chewing, eschewing any subtlety that Puccini built into this tear-jerking piece in favor of all-around bludgeoning.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026

Later, the frontman sings about “waiting for someone to repair you” as the song explodes with the band’s signature guitar theatrics and bludgeoning drums.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 2, 2025

Miller was impressive in bludgeoning his way to three figures but by the time he got going, the game was lost.

From BBC ● Mar. 5, 2025

By the standards of most no-holds-barred authorized portraits, “What a Mess!” was the truth equivalent of a below-the-belt bludgeoning, with nearly all the blows targeting Williams’ ex-husband and former manager Kevin Hunter.

From Salon ● Feb. 23, 2024

Bulgu dashes toward me on those deceptively quick legs and throws one of his bludgeoning arms out.

From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer