How to Use defenestration in a Sentence

defenestration

noun
  • Such defenestrations are sad, even to those of us who thought this one necessary.
    — Clifford S. Asness, WSJ, 12 Dec. 2023
  • Yet the zeal and speed of his defenestration should give us some discomfort.
    — David Thomas, National Review, 15 Mar. 2022
  • Whichever account suits your taste, none points to a cold-blooded defenestration.
    — Gregory Krieg, CNN, 13 Mar. 2018
  • Many sensed the hand of an older brother with an eye on the future in Andrew’s defenestration.
    — Simon Usborne, Town & Country, 13 Mar. 2022
  • These are people that will strongly resist any defenestration of the heir apparent.
    — Ed Kilgore, Daily Intelligencer, 17 May 2018
  • Instead there is much more Raimi-esque bleak humor, defenestration, a ton of bugs, and a frustrating plethora of clichés.
    — Gregory Nussen, Deadline, 16 Apr. 2026
  • Many deaths involve defenestration—falling from windows or balconies.
    — Brendan Cole, MSNBC Newsweek, 7 Oct. 2025
  • The defenestration of Boris Johnson had little to do with morality.
    — Alex Story, National Review, 13 July 2022
  • In the days after Alberta’s defenestration of Licht, followup stories have sought to figure out what went wrong and what’s next.
    — Ryan Faughnder, Los Angeles Times, 6 June 2023
  • Nobody knows if any of these charges will stick or if Republicans will now be able to engineer the defenestration of Robert Mueller.
    — William Cummings, USA TODAY, 28 Oct. 2017
  • But even with the defenestration of the hammer brigade, people continued to yell at Matt Yglesias, who continued to be unable to block them.
    — Sarah Jeong, The Verge, 2 May 2023
  • None retained their audience or their public influence after their defenestration.
    — Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 21 Sep. 2023
  • And there has been all sorts of faux urgency about the need to elect a speaker so the House, leaderless since McCarthy’s defenestration, can get back to business.
    — Mark Z. Barabak, Los Angeles Times, 17 Oct. 2023
  • Cheney's defenestration and Stefanik's subsequent ascent were an anticlimax, and not just because the switch-a-roo had been choreographed for weeks.
    — Gregory Krieg, CNN, 15 May 2021
  • There is a risk of course that the G7 may over-reach and the defenestration of the G20 will lead to an inevitable decoupling of global governance.
    — Vasuki Shastry, Forbes, 24 June 2022
  • Against that backdrop of foreboding, of darker days ahead, of prime ministerial defenestration and a fresh election, of chaos and confusion, what meaning is there in a state visit?
    — Rob Crilly, CNN, 13 June 2017
  • From there, the party’s best hope was to turn to McHenry, who had been serving as speaker pro tem ever since McCarthy’s defenestration.
    — Alex Shephard, The New Republic, 20 Oct. 2023
  • The last time Fatah lost an election, the opposition celebrated with mass defenestration.
    — David Harsanyi, National Review, 20 Apr. 2021
  • McCabe’s testimony will not be altered by his sudden defenestration at the FBI.
    — Andrew Cohen, Esquire, 19 Mar. 2018
  • The chaos dates back to the defenestration of Margaret Thatcher, viewed by many as Britain’s greatest post-war prime minister, in 1990.
    — Ian King, CNBC, 24 June 2026
  • But the indulgence of his novella—scenes of blasphemy, defenestration, disaster, augury—is offset by the Latinate solidity of his prose.
    — Dustin Illingworth, The New Yorker, 20 May 2020
  • News of her death triggered an astonishing social uprising, with women burning their headscarves on the street and many voicing calls not simply for reform of the regime, but for a wholesale defenestration of the ruling clerics.
    — Ishaan Tharoor, Washington Post, 3 Mar. 2024
  • The figurative defenestration of public figures such as Prince Alwaleed bin Talal could be a sign that the crown prince is sending a message to potential rivals to the throne.
    — Krishnadev Calamur, The Atlantic, 5 Nov. 2017
  • John Kelly’s ascent to chief of staff, in the wake of the Priebus defenestration, may have set into motion a game of civil-servant musical chairs—or perhaps something slightly more sinister.
    — Abigail Tracy, The Hive, 3 Aug. 2017
  • Still, several investors complained about the manner of Mr Cryan’s defenestration, which could make for a turbulent annual shareholders’ meeting next month.
    — The Economist, 12 Apr. 2018
  • The defenestration of Warren Kanders from the Whitney Museum boardroom was the most astonishing story of the year.
    — Brian T. Allen, National Review, 4 Jan. 2020
  • Tillerson aides later joked that Kennedy’s defenestration was like something out of the Soviet Union, dragging a political foe out into the street and shooting him in the head so as to send a message to others.
    — Jason Zengerle, New York Times, 17 Oct. 2017
  • There may also be a desire among decision makers to be more deliberate in defenestrations than during the MeToo era, when corporate cancellations were swift and arguably, in some cases, rash.
    — Claire Zillman, Fortune, 14 Feb. 2026
  • Zhang and Liu’s defenestration is part of a wider pattern, says Chun Han Wong in The Wall Street Journal (New York).
    — The Week Uk, TheWeek, 7 Feb. 2026
  • And Kimmel’s unprecedented defenestration joins a wave of cultural clampdown that crested earlier this year, when Colbert got the shady can from his parent company, likely for mocking the President.
    — Brittany Allen, Literary Hub, 23 Sep. 2025

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