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

He believed they were not far from Lake Ontario, and he had no doubt that Montcalm had prepared some fell stroke.

From The Masters of the Peaks A Story of the Great North Woods by Altsheler, Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander)

It was not in the way of things that he, who had always had everything, should at one fell stroke be left desolate.

From Old Rose and Silver by Reed, Myrtle

By one fell stroke there was no longer either end in sight nor visible means of reaching it.

From Noto: an Unexplained Corner of Japan by Lowell, Percival

Something worse than eating with his knife must ostracize a man, and something no greater than spitting on the sidewalk should accomplish the feat at one fell stroke.

From Etiquette by Morton, Agnes H.