punch-drunk

adjective

ˈpənch-ˌdrəŋk How to pronounce punch-drunk (audio)
Definition of punch-drunknext
as in dazed
suffering from mental confusion punch-drunk from having stayed up all night, she struggled through the exam

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of punch-drunk The yen looked punch-drunk on Wednesday after a sudden spill overnight, pressured by wide interest rate differentials between Japan and the rest of the world. — Lim Hui Jie, CNBC, 19 June 2026 Candy thought so too, later recalling that the only hard part of filming the scene was doing it over and over again for Hughes and his punch-drunk crew. — Lizz Schumer, PEOPLE, 7 Oct. 2025 Guiducci arrives at a moment when some of that anger has subsided, and the punch-drunk culture seems counterintuitively eager to escape into nostalgia and tastemaking, splashy profiles, and — just sometimes — confrontational journalism. — Max Tani, semafor.com, 25 Aug. 2025 Having given us a punch-drunk vision of romantic dilemmas in her masterpiece of a debut, Song now delivers a more practical, hangover-adjacent look at how the human need for relationships gets turned into a bespoke luxury item. — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 12 June 2025 Only the most punch-drunk partisan would give Republicans as much as a 50-50 chance of succeeding Gavin Newsom. — Mark Barabak, Mercury News, 30 Apr. 2025 It’s better described as a series of springy volleys backward and forward through time—the movie ping-pongs between 2019 and 2006, with stops in between—that leave you feeling a little dizzy, even a bit punch-drunk. — Stephanie Zacharek, TIME, 26 Apr. 2024 The notion that anyone might make a beeline to turn this punch-drunk nonsense into a new Statham franchise seems unlikely. — David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 Jan. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for punch-drunk
  1. dazed
  2. bewildered
  3. confused
  4. distracted
  5. stunned
  6. dizzy
Adjective
  • When the dazed young woman reels off quotes from an obscure self-help book, her new acolytes take her words as gnomic wisdom.
    — Guy Lodge, Variety, 31 Aug. 2026
  • The cops arrived hours past midnight, turning on the lights to reveal an army of dazed, squinting faces.
    — Taran Dugal, New Yorker, 30 Aug. 2026
Definition of dazed
Adjective
  • That bewildered shake of the head after Meyer's pitch in that video is not a rare occurrence for Raleigh this year.
    — Eno Sarris, New York Times, 25 Aug. 2026
  • On Douban, a popular Chinese movie-review platform, viewers piled on with mocking and bewildered comments.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 17 Aug. 2026
Definition of bewildered
Adjective
  • Also, if the switch from side by side to one-front/one-back happened instantaneously, your brain would get confused about how to interpret the images delivered from each eye, since the setup would be quite different from what you were used to.
    — Abigail Witmer, The Conversation, 31 Aug. 2026
  • Critics of the move have been vocal, and many residents were left confused.
    — Jeanine Santucci, USA Today, 28 Aug. 2026
Definition of confused
Adjective
  • Riggs said the Teamsters’ safety argument is weakened by the inconsistent safety record of human truck drivers, who have fallen asleep at the wheel or driven while distracted or otherwise impaired.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 29 Aug. 2026
  • Police will be on the lookout for drivers who are speeding, distracted, and those failing to stop for pedestrians.
    — Michelle Richardson, CBS News, 24 Aug. 2026
Definition of distracted
Adjective
  • Chelsea and Everton were left stunned after Monaco called off the sale of Lamine Camara to the former English club, only for his team-mate and USMNT striker Folarin Balogun to pull out of a move to the latter.
    — Jacob Whitehead, New York Times, 2 Sep. 2026
  • One of his cousins raises a fist in triumph as everyone files out, completely stunned that this day actually arrived.
    — Jeff Weiss, HollywoodReporter, 1 Sep. 2026
Definition of stunned
Adjective
  • Most patients feel dizzy, nauseated and weak within 30 to 60 minutes.
    — Prayan Pokharel, The Conversation, 27 Aug. 2026
  • The incident comes just weeks after Richie was similarly forced to postpone two shows after becoming dizzy during a performance in Minnesota in June.
    — Jessica Schladebeck, New York Daily News, 7 Aug. 2026
Definition of dizzy

Browse Nearby Words

punch
punch-drunk
punched
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Punch-drunk.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/punch-drunk. Accessed 5 Sep. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

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

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

A List of Most Commonly Confused Words

Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?

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

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

Stay Woke

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Words of the Week - Sept. 4
See More

Popular

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

The Longest Long Words List

Stay Woke
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
anagrams on a chalk board
Word Builder Quiz Vol. 2 Pick the letter that when added to a word will ma...
See All