1
: having barbs
2
: characterized by pointed and biting criticism or sarcasm
barbed witticisms
Examples of barbed in a Sentence
The candidates exchanged barbed comments during the debate.
barbed satire on American academia
Recent Examples on the Web
Mengistu, a member of Israel's Ethiopian minority, entered the territory by crossing a barbed wire fence into Gaza.
—
Associated Press, TIME, 22 Feb. 2025
All pennies will henceforth be exiled to Guantanamo to live out their lives as former currency in orange jumpsuits, behind barbed wire, only inches from the best beaches ever.
—Barry Scott Zellen, Hartford Courant, 18 Feb. 2025
Away in a northeasterly direction towards Lake Pontchartrain sits a charmless, gated perimeter, secured by a fence topped with barbed wire.
—Adam Crafton, The Athletic, 8 Feb. 2025
This is Auschwitz-Birkenau, a place where the Nazis treated people like animals caged in by electrified barbed wire, where prisoners died slowly by a combination of slave labor, human experimentation, starvation and disease.
—Jesse Kirsch, NBC News, 2 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for barbed
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Associated Press, TIME, 22 Feb. 2025
All pennies will henceforth be exiled to Guantanamo to live out their lives as former currency in orange jumpsuits, behind barbed wire, only inches from the best beaches ever.
—Barry Scott Zellen, Hartford Courant, 18 Feb. 2025
Away in a northeasterly direction towards Lake Pontchartrain sits a charmless, gated perimeter, secured by a fence topped with barbed wire.
—Adam Crafton, The Athletic, 8 Feb. 2025
This is Auschwitz-Birkenau, a place where the Nazis treated people like animals caged in by electrified barbed wire, where prisoners died slowly by a combination of slave labor, human experimentation, starvation and disease.
—Jesse Kirsch, NBC News, 2 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for barbed
Cite this Entry
“Barbed.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/barbed. Accessed 12 Mar. 2025.
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