How to Use watchword in a Sentence

watchword

noun
  • Sad and somber and solemn were once again the day’s watchwords.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 20 Dec. 2019
  • Strong, strong, strong — that’s the watchword.
    — Jim Cramer, CNBC, 4 May 2026
  • And that felt like the under-the-surface watchword of the evening.
    — David Patrick Stearns, Philly.com, 5 Apr. 2018
  • Fiscal restraint has been a watchword for the party for decades.
    — Kristina Peterson, WSJ, 24 Dec. 2017
  • Pressure is almost a watchword of modern life — like speed and change.
    — Roger Trapp, Forbes, 30 Aug. 2021
  • Simple was the watchword—and that applied to the service, too.
    — Lee Marshall, Travel + Leisure, 14 May 2023
  • The truth is, success would be nice, but the watchword here in Year 1 of a new era is progress.
    — Howard Megdal, Forbes, 2 Sep. 2021
  • Taking place at a factory that makes scales, the film adopts balance as its theme and watchword.
    — WSJ, 1 Sep. 2022
  • The two watchwords of your selection process should be rigorous and fast.
    — Bruce Tulgan, Forbes, 27 Sep. 2024
  • For him and his fellow reporters, phony was the watchword—an instinct.
    — Lance Morrow, WSJ, 23 Sep. 2020
  • In music, the watchword has been uneasy, applied even to escapist fare.
    — Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 7 May 2018
  • The key Trimmer watchword is balance.
    — David Brooks, The Atlantic, 25 Mar. 2026
  • Common sense must be the watchword for boaters who take to the bay and ocean on federal holidays.
    — David C. Henley, Daily Pilot, 26 May 2017
  • Opulent is the watchword here, as the skyscrapers will host just one large and light-filled residence each per floor.
    — Adam Williams, New Atlas, 2 Jan. 2025
  • Resilience has replaced efficiency as the watchword of the day.
    — David Meyer, Fortune, 30 Aug. 2022
  • Sorry might have been the watchword for Sunday’s performance.
    — Gary Klein Staff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 3 Oct. 2021
  • The watchword is patience, often in short supply in a football stadium.
    — Jeff Wheelwright, Discover Magazine, 13 June 2016
  • These, asking forgiveness from Shakespeare, are the watchwords of the coming year.
    — Jon Talton, The Seattle Times, 23 Dec. 2017
  • But in a time when change is the watchword, the nation’s political divide looks remarkably durable.
    — Dante Chinni, NBC News, 15 Jan. 2023
  • Traceability is the watchword of the coming decade for fashion and the textile sector.
    — Fairchild Studio, WWD, 24 June 2024
  • This is the power of trade in general and why free trade has been our watchword since World War II.
    — Steve Butler, The Mercury News, 27 Jan. 2017
  • Adaptability is the watchword for the restaurant industry right now.
    — Mike Sutter, ExpressNews.com, 22 Oct. 2020
  • Low-waste is the watchword, with any small amount of kitchen waste eventually becoming nutrient-rich compost.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 31 Mar. 2026
  • The profound effect on 10-year-old Elizabeth, Lacey says, is that from then on duty was her watchword.
    — Maria Puente and Jeff Stinson, USA TODAY, 8 Sep. 2022
  • But parity figures to be the watchword throughout this 2024 season.
    — Gabe Lacques, USA TODAY, 14 Feb. 2024
  • Efficiency has been the watchword for the industry since the oil bust that cost tens of thousands of jobs and pushed scores of companies into bankruptcy.
    — Collin Eaton, San Antonio Express-News, 30 Jan. 2018
  • Sprinkling in some back-end starters and calling it a day doesn’t seem like his MO after a year on the job, so perhaps patience is the watchword here after all.
    — Susan Slusser, San Francisco Chronicle, 5 Jan. 2026
  • Inflation is the watchword as the Federal Reserve kicks off a two-day meeting on Tuesday.
    — NBC News, 15 June 2021
  • But in modern English parlance, mantra has come to mean a person or group’s representative phrase, similar to a slogan or a watchword.
    — Encyclopedia Britannica, 31 Mar. 2026
  • The 1619 Project has emerged as a watchword for our era — a hashtag, a talking point, a journalism case study, a scholarly mission.
    — Washington Post, 13 Oct. 2020

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'watchword.' 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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