coups de main

noun

plural of coup de main
as in attacks
the act or action of setting upon with force or violence the Continental Army's attack on the British-Hessian encampment at Trenton, New Jersey, ranks as one of the most brilliant coups de main of the war

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for coups de main
  1. attacks
  2. assaults
  3. raids
  4. offensives
  5. offenses
  6. onslaughts
  7. strikes
  8. attempts
Noun
  • That has included arson attacks on Jewish sites that Britain says were carried out by Iranian proxies.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 14 Oct. 2026
  • The attacks came during the World Petroleum Congress in Riyadh.
    — Jim Edwards, Fortune, 14 Oct. 2026
Definition of attacks
Noun
  • Schleinzer made a deliberate choice not to depict the assaults themselves, arguing that images carry a responsibility, particularly in a culture saturated with graphic representations of suffering.
    — Katherine Brodsky, Variety, 14 Oct. 2026
  • Misdemeanor assaults have increased 16% in transit, to 1,304 from 1,120.
    — Rocco Parascandola, New York Daily News, 14 Oct. 2026
Definition of assaults
Noun
  • Raman called for replacing the police chief over the department’s handling of federal immigration raids, while Bass warned that changing leadership ahead of the 2028 Olympics could disrupt the department.
    — Barnini Chakraborty, The Washington Examiner, 14 Oct. 2026
  • Raman called for Police Chief Jim McDonnell’s ouster over his handling of federal immigration raids.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 14 Oct. 2026
Definition of raids
Noun
  • Ukraine can conduct localized offensives but not enough to shift the broader battlefield balance, despite mounting Russian losses.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 8 Oct. 2026
  • Only small offensives are possible Ukraine can conduct localized offensives but not enough to shift the broader battlefield balance, despite mounting Russian losses.
    — Samya Kullab, Los Angeles Times, 8 Oct. 2026
Definition of offensives
Noun
  • Donaldson’s wife, Eleanor Donaldson, 60, was found to have aided and abetted her husband’s offenses for witnessing the abuse and doing nothing to intervene.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 15 Oct. 2026
  • At least two other solicitor generals in Georgia, including in Fulton County, have similar programs allowing people facing minor offenses to donate to charitable causes as a form of community service.
    — Reed Williams, AJC.com, 15 Oct. 2026
Definition of offenses
Noun
  • In fact, reported evidence suggests this software commitment (from a company making its revenue from hardware) has been crucial to Nvidia’s success in fending off onslaughts from other hardware vendors such as Intel.
    — Nisha Talagala, Forbes.com, 28 Aug. 2026
  • Ukraine has been largely helpless in similar Russian onslaughts in recent weeks.
    — Tom Bowman, NPR, 4 Aug. 2026
Definition of onslaughts
Noun
  • As recent conflicts have shown, air power is rarely effective without ground troops who can move in and seize territory after strikes.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 17 Oct. 2026
  • Russians are largely shielded from the deadly horrors of the front lines, but Ukraine has sought to shatter the illusion that the consequences of war are far removed through drone strikes deep inside its territory.
    — Zahra Ullah, CNN Money, 17 Oct. 2026
Definition of strikes
Noun
  • Last weekend in Highland, Michigan, Rogers dismissed El-Sayed's attempts to whittle away at his GOP base of support.
    — Aaron Navarro, CBS News, 16 Oct. 2026
  • Proposition 132 attempts to address these concerns by stiffening legal penalties.
    — Joshua Barocas, The Conversation, 16 Oct. 2026
Definition of attempts
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

coups de grâce
coups de main
courage
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Coups de main.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/coups%20de%20main. Accessed 21 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of jilt

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Can' vs. 'May'

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Did 'orange' the fruit or the color come first?

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
artwork of illustrated limes with the text limes and smile with an arrow connecting the two words
Quiz: Spot the Anagram! Scramble these words to find new words with the e...
See All