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)

In short, he had formed the stupendous ambition of becoming, at one fell stroke, a renowned ethnologist!

From The Mesa Trail by Bedford-Jones, H.

By one fell stroke he was put in second place, a man who had to await the return of Palmer—and that in his own church, so to speak.

From Twelve Men by Dreiser, Theodore

In another severe storm all the reindeer got away; and, of course, a valuable supply of fresh meat, besides transport, was cut off at one fell stroke.

From Notable Voyagers From Columbus to Nordenskiold by Kingston, William Henry Giles