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Examples of fisticuffs in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Congressional Republicans, who just days ago were displaying bitter discord and nearly coming to fisticuffs on the House floor, are now launching new investigations and inquiries.
—Anchorage Daily News, 13 Jan. 2023
While their earlier cousins might resort to such fisticuffs, the anal-scrapers conduct their rivalries with all the restraint of Victorian gentlemen.
—Ed Yong, Discover Magazine, 27 Dec. 2010
Airline passengers, international tourists and even airplane pilots got more than a bit lively this year too, with fisticuffs, high jinks and underclad exhibitionism breaking out all over the place.
—CNN, 31 Dec. 2022
Violence broke out at more than 100 events and often involved fisticuffs with opposing groups, including left-wing activists such as antifa.
—Mike McIntire, BostonGlobe.com, 26 Nov. 2022
The argument eventually ends with fisticuffs because Cooper doesn’t seem sure how to exit out of the premise any other way.
—Elisabeth Vincentelli, New York Times, 2 Dec. 2022
Owens, 48, told NBC News Monday afternoon that the TMZ footage accurately depicted the fisticuffs, but didn't capture what led up to the fight.
—Diana Dasrath, NBC News, 28 Nov. 2022
After several minute of antagonistic behavior, one of the men took him up on fisticuffs.
—John Benson, cleveland, 14 Sep. 2022
From local civic fisticuffs to mass school shootings, most of us have an internal voice that says stop.
—WSJ, 17 Aug. 2022
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'fisticuffs.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
alteration of fisty cuff, from fisty fistic + cuff
First Known Use
1605, in the meaning defined above
Dictionary Entries Near fisticuffs
Cite this Entry
“Fisticuffs.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fisticuffs. Accessed 29 May. 2024.
Kids Definition
fisticuffs
plural noun
fist·i·cuffs
ˈfis-ti-ˌkəfs
: a fight with fists
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