Illustration of sword
- 1 pommel
- 2 hilt
- 3 guard
- 4 blade
often attributive
1
: a weapon (such as a cutlass or rapier) with a long blade for cutting or thrusting that is often used as a symbol of honor or authority
2
a
: an agency or instrument of destruction or combat
b
: the use of force
The pen is mightier than the sword.—
Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton
Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton3
: coercive power
4
: something that resembles a sword
see also at swords' points
Examples of sword in a Sentence
once upon a time dueling with swords was the gentlemanly way to settle a point of honor
Recent Examples on the Web
The horse is red and in Toussaint’s hand, a sword transformed into a snake.
—Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 6 Feb. 2026
Renato is introduced by way of sunlight gleaming off what looks like the blade of a sword but turns out to be the shaft of a golf club.
—Richard Brody, New Yorker, 4 Feb. 2026
Little would the playwright have imagined that something yet to be invented called social media would one day be more powerful than swords, bullets and bombs.
—Sandeep Gopalan, Baltimore Sun, 3 Feb. 2026
Fire in all its forms, literal and figurative and symbolic—the consuming ardor of desire, the irreversible incinerations of loss, the flaming swords of Genesis—is the central subject of Kelly Hoffer’s second collection Fire Series.
—Literary Hub, 2 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for sword
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Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 6 Feb. 2026
Renato is introduced by way of sunlight gleaming off what looks like the blade of a sword but turns out to be the shaft of a golf club.
—Richard Brody, New Yorker, 4 Feb. 2026
Little would the playwright have imagined that something yet to be invented called social media would one day be more powerful than swords, bullets and bombs.
—Sandeep Gopalan, Baltimore Sun, 3 Feb. 2026
Fire in all its forms, literal and figurative and symbolic—the consuming ardor of desire, the irreversible incinerations of loss, the flaming swords of Genesis—is the central subject of Kelly Hoffer’s second collection Fire Series.
—Literary Hub, 2 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for sword
Cite this Entry
“Sword.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sword. Accessed 14 Feb. 2026.
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