How to Use lights-out in a Sentence

lights-out

noun
  • The days when the offense looks the most anemic are the same days when the pitching is lights-out.
    — Abbey Mastracco, New York Daily News, 28 May 2024
  • The Gators were lights-out in the second half against the Terrapins.
    — Chris Branch, New York Times, 28 Mar. 2025
  • He’s also been lights-out in a relief role with five saves and a 0.47 ERA.
    — Steve Millar, Chicago Tribune, 15 May 2025
  • With a big helping hand from Shohei Ohtani and a lights-out bullpen, that’s exactly what the Dodgers did.
    — Houston Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, 26 Sep. 2024
  • No matter who he’s played with, Doughty has been lights-out with a 73 percent xG rate.
    — Dom Luszczyszyn, The Athletic, 20 Feb. 2025
  • Forget that third gear: This was pedal-to-the-metal, lights-out tennis.
    — Corey Seymour, Vogue, 8 June 2025
  • Maryland was lights-out the first half of the season, ranked as high as No. 7 by The Associated Press thanks to a 14-0 start.
    — Sam Cohn, Baltimore Sun, 28 Mar. 2025
  • Thompson’s lights-out performance wasn’t even the highlight of his night.
    — Lamond Pope, Chicago Tribune, 21 June 2024
  • Florida came out shooting lights-out from the beginning of the game.
    — Edward Lee, Baltimore Sun, 16 May 2024
  • Does Burrow have one more lights-out performance in him?
    — The Athletic Nfl Staff, The Athletic, 3 Jan. 2025
  • The most exciting part of the Singapore Grand Prix was the start—that lights-out moment when anything can happen.
    — Rob Reed, Forbes, 23 Sep. 2024
  • After some miscues earlier in the game, Jackson was lights-out on the Ravens’ final drive.
    — Kevin Dotson, CNN, 19 Jan. 2025
  • Arizona State scored 35 unanswered points in the program's lights-out victory against ISU.
    — Daniel R. Depetris, Newsweek, 7 Dec. 2024
  • The Giants’ ace was lights-out, putting whatever ailed him this spring in the rearview mirror while retiring the Padres in order their first time through the lineup.
    — Evan Webeck, The Mercury News, 28 Mar. 2024
  • Hart finished the year at 33% from deep — 34% on wide-open attempts — with shooting nights to close the regular season that swung between lights-out and lid-on.
    — Kristian Winfield, New York Daily News, 16 Apr. 2025
  • Since his rough patch ended two months ago, he’s been lights-out, allowing only one earned run over his past 21 innings.
    — Jacob Calvin Meyer, Baltimore Sun, 8 July 2024
  • Halladay was lights-out the rest of the way, allowing only four more hits in finishing eight innings.
    — Tim Britton, New York Times, 30 May 2025
  • The Mustangs were propelled to victory by a near lights-out performance on the mound by junior pitcher Preston Rau.
    — Josh Reed, Anchorage Daily News, 9 May 2023
  • Driving the news: Detroit kept Cleveland scoreless with lights-out pitching and clutch defensive plays.
    — Joe Guillen, Axios, 10 Oct. 2024
  • To protect the drawings, Ms. D’Agostino said, visits will be kept to groups of four and limited to 15 minutes, with 45 minute lights-out periods in between to protect the drawings.
    — Jason Horowitz, New York Times, 26 Oct. 2023
  • Just some consistent Dodgers offense, coupled with more dominance from a lights-out pitching staff.
    — Jack Harris, Los Angeles Times, 17 Oct. 2024
  • That spoiled a lights-out stretch defensively, wherein IU held Miami without a field goal over a seven-minute stretch and without a point for six minutes.
    — Brian Haenchen, The Indianapolis Star, 21 Mar. 2023
  • Wisconsin's defense is playing lights-out in winning streak.
    — New York Times, 22 Oct. 2024
  • That is where workouts can help, such as the ones that have been ongoing for the Heat at Kaseya Center, not necessarily to witness lights-out shooting, but to see if the mechanics are there.
    — Ira Winderman, Sun Sentinel, 23 June 2024
  • Flacco was lights-out in a handful of starts for Cleveland a year ago, and the veteran played well in three appearances for Indianapolis earlier this season.
    — David Faris, Newsweek, 3 Nov. 2024
  • One player certain to stay in Flushing is lights-out reliever Edwin Diaz, whose five-year, $102 million deal is the richest ever given to a closer.
    — Dan Schlossberg, Forbes, 7 Mar. 2023
  • But here’s the truth: Time management and empathy (or any other set of soft skills for that matter) won’t deliver a lights-out interview performance.
    — Pamela Skillings, Forbes, 17 Dec. 2024
  • Two-way superstar Cooper Flagg is the single-biggest reason to back the Blue Devils, but this is a well-rounded team that is lights-out both offensively and defensively.
    — Josh Hammer, Newsweek, 19 Mar. 2025
  • The marquee matchup pits the Wolverines’ lights-out defense, statistically the stingiest in the nation, against the high-powered Huskies’ aerial attack, the most productive passing game in the Bowl Subdivision putting up 350 yards a game.
    — USA TODAY, 8 Jan. 2024
  • Another lights-out closer worth considering in a trade would be the Cardinals’ Ryan Helsley.
    — Paul Bledsoe, Baltimore Sun, 18 June 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'lights-out.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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