staunch

Tonga combined classy attacking play with staunch defence, mixed with a pinch of luck - while being cheered on by a ferociously partisan crowd in Perth - to cause a major upset.

From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2026

Some advised him to head to Belarus, a staunch Russian ally, and then to Armenia, where he would be stuck in legal limbo.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

Elected to the European Parliament in 2019, Gluckmann's work there has also focused on human rights and he has been a staunch defender of Ukraine.

From Barron's ● Oct. 11, 2026

Councilmember Traci Park, a staunch supporter of plate reader technology, said there is an urgent need to get the devices “up and running.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026

If Pike was telling the truth, it meant that Hale—a seeming paragon of law and order who had held himself up as Mollie Burkhart’s most staunch protector—had been lying all these years about Anna’s murder.

From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann

Two years after the last ministerial conference in Abu Dhabi failed to make meaningful progress on key issues like fisheries and agriculture, member states face even stauncher challenges this time.

From Barron's ● Mar. 26, 2026

However, the source said Reeker tried to get the agency to issue a stauncher defense of Yovanovitch.

From Reuters ● Oct. 26, 2019

He conceived it as an alternative to 4chan, one with an even stauncher commitment to anything-goes content moderation.

From The New Yorker ● Sep. 23, 2019

Saudi Arabia and the U.S. strongly backed Hadi, and the new president proved a stauncher ally to the U.S. than Saleh in the fight against al-Qaida’s branch in the country.

From Time ● Mar. 22, 2015

He was a great Nonconformist, a staunch Baptist up to the day of his death—a much stauncher one,' she said significantly, 'than his daughter is.'

From A Laodicean : a Story of To-day by Thomas Hardy

The bill is named after the late Senator Lindsey Graham, one of Ukraine's staunchest defenders in Washington before his death on 11 July.

From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026

“He became one of my staunchest supporters and schooled me on whom I could trust and whom I could never turn my back on.”

From Slate ● Feb. 25, 2026

Poland has long counted itself one of the U.S.’s staunchest allies since the end of the Cold War.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 6, 2026

Cambodia has long been one of China's staunchest allies in Southeast Asia, and Beijing has extended its influence over Phnom Penh in recent years.

From Barron's ● Jan. 24, 2026

“Well, your father’s on the board of directors and Henry’s one of the staunchest members.”

From "Go Set a Watchman: A Novel" by Harper Lee