fell stroke
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
And then – boom! – with one fell stroke of an adapter’s arbitrariness, Mr. Kelly altered the play’s ending in a way that crudely shrinks and simplifies its intentions.
From New York Times ● Aug. 2, 2010
See all the artifice of civilisation swept away at one fell stroke, and behold your gentleman, transformed in an instant into a beast, with all a beast's primeval qualities.
From A Spinner in the Sun by Myrtle Reed
For not, though deep beneath the sod Thou liest, not unrequited nor unsung Shall this fell stroke, from Cypris' rancour sprung, Quell thee, mine own, the saintly and the true!
From Hippolytus/The Bacchae by Euripides
James had been so well-behaved that morning it was only logical for her to anticipate that he was about to abolish at one fell stroke all his hard-earned merits.
From The Place of Honeymoons by Arthur Ignatius Keller
Now, at one fell stroke, his villainy lay exposed.
From Five Thousand Dollars Reward by A. Frank [pseud.] Pinkerton
