bashing

[ bash-ing ]
See synonyms for bashing on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. the act of beating, whipping, or thrashing: a series of unsolved bashings and robberies.

  2. a decisive defeat: We gave the visiting team a good bashing.

  1. (used in combination)

    • unprovoked physical assaults against members of a specified group: gay-bashing.

    • verbal abuse, as of a group or a nation: feminist-bashing; China-bashing.

Origin of bashing

1
First recorded in 1725–35; bash + -ing1

Words Nearby bashing

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use bashing in a sentence

  • Dame Diana Rigg, who plays Lady Olenna Tyrell in Game of Thrones, has turned tales of critical bashing into a delightful play.

  • Republicans and Democrats love bashing lobbyists on the stump.

  • But his resistance should be secret and not open, for a while; there should be no more "bashing" than was absolutely necessary.

    The Secret Glory | Arthur Machen
  • A few seconds later, I tripped over a steel staircase, bashing my shins.

    Little Brother | Cory Doctorow
  • Nick continued to ponder the strange men and the woman he was coming home to, but it was like bashing his head against a wall.

    The Sex Life of the Gods | Michael Knerr
  • I was given post at the gates, where for ten minutes my fellows was kept pretty busy bashing 'em and throwing 'em out.

    Foe-Farrell | Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
  • What a terrible thing, if Bert had found out you was in there and put him up to bashing your face.

    Sinister Street, vol. 2 | Compton Mackenzie

British Dictionary definitions for -bashing

-bashing

adj combining form, n combining form
  1. informal

    • indicating a malicious attack on members of a particular group: queer-bashing; union-bashing

    • indicating any of various other activities: Bible-bashing; spud-bashing; square-bashing

Derived forms of -bashing

  • -basher, n combining form

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012