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 broadswordWith fire and broadsword came pestilence, in the form of a sickness called Morrisania fever, which carried off many Refugees.—Ian Frazier, The New Yorker, 15 July 2024 In 2019, former Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas stabbed the balloon of sky-high expectations of his candidacy with a broadsword of a meltdown in Miami.—Philip Elliott, Time, 23 Aug. 2023 There were lessons in horsemanship and broadsword handling.—Bob Strauss, Los Angeles Times, 12 June 2023 The hands are broadsword-shaped, with a stainless steel build that contrasts nicely with the dial.—Matthew Catellier, Forbes, 7 July 2022 In 2020, British teenagers and children wielding metal detectors discovered a pair of rare, 1,000-year-old coins and a late 17th- or early 18th-century English broadsword.—Meilan Solly, Smithsonian Magazine, 29 Dec. 2020 Penn remarks that Richard found Hastings’ lack of loyalty confusing and overwhelming – a level of annoyance that does not seem to merit resorting to the broadsword, but the story quickly moves on to the main event of Richard’s villainy: the murder of the princes in the Tower.—Steve Donoghue, The Christian Science Monitor, 1 Dec. 2020 Cloud isn’t exactly discreet either, brandishing a broadsword as long as his body.—Joshua Adams, Wired, 10 Nov. 2020 Cavill is Geralt of Rivia, a mutant slayer of monsters, gruffly navigating a world of broadswords and bloody battles.—Brian Lowry, CNN, 20 Dec. 2019
By holding a button, a simple katana suddenly becomes a 10-foot blade, or a rapier sprouts a demolition-grade power drill — all capable of viscerally dismembering and maiming foes.
—
Christopher Cruz,
Rolling Stone,
20 Oct. 2025
The fabric is produced on a double rapier loom in a width of 50 cm (19.7 in) at whatever length is needed.
What was once done by indirection and guile is now carried with the high hand, in the face of day, at the mouth of the cannon and by the edge of the sabre of the nation.
—
Jake Lundberg,
The Atlantic,
12 Feb. 2026
The first 1500 fans will get free light saber thunder sticks.
—
Abby Hamblin,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
21 Jan. 2026
The workers blamed Landi — who was still in charge — for their troubles, and an image of Landi posing, pirate-style, with a cartoon-villain expression and a cutlass between his teeth became a symbol for Eutelia’s misdeeds.
—
Atossa Araxia Abrahamian Atossa Araxia Abrahamian,
New York Times,
7 Jan. 2025
The ultimate prop was the pirate flag, which could be decorated with a skull and crossbones (as in the classic Jolly Roger design), bleeding hearts, hourglasses, spears, cutlasses and skeletons.
—
Sean Kingsley,
Smithsonian Magazine,
15 May 2024