Thesaurus results for STABS

stabs 1 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of stab

as in pierces

to penetrate or hold (something) with a pointed object stabbed the pesky leaf with the tines of the rake

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stabs

2 of 2

noun

plural of stab

as in punctures

a mark or small hole made by a pointed instrument the injection left a small stab on her upper arm

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as in attempts

an effort to do or accomplish something everybody will get a stab at solving the problem

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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 stabs

Verb

The sequence culminates in the Great Hall, where Ned kicks part of his broken cane to Colum, who stabs MacKinney in the leg. — Max Gao, HollywoodReporter, 5 Oct. 2026 But before Bane can finish him off, Batman stabs a Batarang into a little knob on Bane’s wrist gauntlet, the one that controls his intake of Venom. — Daniel Dockery, Vulture, 24 Aug. 2026 When Little Death stabs into their victim, there’s a geyser of blood, way more than could fit inside a human body. — Sarah Shachat, IndieWire, 7 Aug. 2026 In the heat of the moment, Voit’s daughter comes to his rescue and fatally stabs Crowley. — Caroline Blair, PEOPLE, 24 July 2026 Kara talks her out of it, and when Ruthye walks away, Kara turns back to Krem and stabs him multiple times with a sword. — Brian Truitt, USA Today, 27 June 2026 On cue, a Frey leaps out and stabs Robb’s pregnant wife Talisa (Oona Chaplin) in the stomach, and a volley of crossbow arrows lay into Robb and his friends. — Ew Staff, Entertainment Weekly, 25 June 2026 Mookie stabs a ball going back up the middle to save a pair of runs. — Dan Hayes, New York Times, 25 June 2026 His right-hand man, Bishop, pulls an Iago on him and stabs him in the back by emptying his bullets. — Ethan Shanfeld, Variety, 1 June 2026

Noun

Testers dropped heavy weights from considerable heights onto the containers and used metal fangs to make stabs at perforation. — The New Yorker, New Yorker, 6 Oct. 2026 The stabs at humor also fall flat, even if the gimmick of a priest injecting his enemies with a serum that obliges them to attend mass every Sunday is kind of fun the first time, but not really the second or third. — Jordan Mintzer, HollywoodReporter, 11 Sep. 2026 The agency instructed hospitals to share detailed patient information for more than 10,000 types of injuries or conditions, such as vaccine reactions, suicide attempts, or stingray stabs. — CNN Money, 9 Sep. 2026 These stabs at earnestness do nothing to diminish the feeling of the concert film being little more than a cash grab. — Elena Lazic, Variety, 5 Sep. 2026 At the time, Interpol was constantly dodging comparisons to Joy Division with their angular guitar stabs and Paul Banks’ distinct baritone that reminded some of Ian Curtis. — David Harris, SPIN, 31 Aug. 2026 Everything else–the percussive jumpscares, the distorted synth stabs, the unintelligible vocal samples–pops in and out at will. — Olivier Lafontant, Pitchfork, 31 July 2026 And while most of the film is unrelentingly grim, its few stabs at dark humor — most notably the punchlines about the grandmother’s faulty memory — didn’t garner a chuckle from me. — Angelica Jade Bastién, Vulture, 10 July 2026 As are chunks of the opening song; a line here, and a line there; an entirely new closing number has replaced the first stabs at a closing number; and every awkward silence is excised. — Christopher Borrelli, Chicago Tribune, 25 June 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for stabs

Verb

Christmas tree pins have a tiered configuration that compresses rather than pierces the ground (a win for modern synthetic or Mondo tracks).

— Stacia Datskovska, Footwear News, 10 Sep. 2026
An ice sculpture of a heart includes a tube through the ice arrow that pierces the heart.

— Peter Larsen, Oc Register, 10 July 2026

Definition of pierces

Noun

Officers arrived at Harrison's room at the Great Wolf Lodge and noticed bleeding cuts on her left wrist and superficial punctures on her neck, the criminal complaint said.

— Tom Ignudo, CBS News, 13 Oct. 2026
Lemmo Lemmo's gone with a 960-Wh semi-solid state battery, which reportedly allows for up to 110 miles (180 km) of range and won't go up in flames from punctures or thermal runaway incidents.

— New Atlas, New Atlas, 6 Oct. 2026

Definition of punctures

Verb

Rather than immediately running toward his destination on the opposite side of the field, Jefferson jabs at the defender to create even more separation.

— Alec Lewis, New York Times, 8 Sep. 2026
Vance, El-Sayed exchange jabs over spouse comments The dispute also took a personal turn as the vice president condemned El-Sayed for comments about second lady Usha Vance.

— Melina Khan, USA Today, 1 Sep. 2026

Definition of jabs

Noun

The farm offers a punch card to residents for $18 and is good for up to 14 punches or around 21 bags of debris.

— Stephen Underwood, Hartford Courant, 18 Oct. 2026
Hadribeaj attacked the body early, crouching beneath Fundora’s punches and landing looping shots over the top.

— ABC News, ABC News, 18 Oct. 2026

Definition of punches

Noun

For example, using a quantum computer to break the current RSA-2048 encryption employed in website security, banking and electronic ID cards would require magic states that would fail only once in 10 billion tries.

— Jacek Krywko, Scientific American, 15 Oct. 2026
Seguin’s goal, tying the score late in the first period, was Dallas’ first home power-play goal in eight tries.

— ABC News, ABC News, 13 Oct. 2026

Definition of tries

Verb

The broadcaster and champion of the high street, who transformed the fortunes of Harvey Nichols, picks her favourites.

— The Week UK, TheWeek, 16 Oct. 2026
AutoCAM then suggests how to hold the part, picks the tools and generates the machining operations, followed by a material-removal simulation to check the job before any metal is cut.

— New Atlas, New Atlas, 14 Oct. 2026