How to Use mettle in a Sentence

mettle

noun
  • The competition will test her mettle.
  • At two hours, this tour will test your mettle for the macabre.
    — Tribune News Service, Orange County Register, 23 May 2024
  • While some come to test their speed, most come to test their mettle.
    — Julie Jag, The Salt Lake Tribune, 11 Sep. 2020
  • So this is their chance to show their mettle in that scenario.
    — Pierre Lebrun, New York Times, 1 May 2025
  • But the events from this past year are testing even their mettle.
    — Jim Carlton, WSJ, 21 July 2017
  • Who have mettle enough to catch hold of the demons of our era and blow them to pieces?
    — David Kipen, Los Angeles Times, 8 Apr. 2020
  • The true test of the Trojans’ mettle lies ahead.
    — Ryan Kartje, Los Angeles Times, 30 Mar. 2026
  • But in gaming tests, the Scar proved its mettle.
    — Brian Westover, PC Magazine, 25 Aug. 2025
  • Could the pairing of two words invite more doubt about a city’s mettle?
    — Joseph Goodman | [email protected], al, 19 Feb. 2022
  • Last year tested the world's mettle and proved its resilience.
    — CNN, 26 Mar. 2021
  • And like most first kills, this one is designed to test Pam's mettle — and ours.
    — Kat Rosenfield, EW.com, 4 Apr. 2022
  • What Biden is facing is a test of mettle, not a pitfall to dodge.
    — Jason Linkins, The New Republic, 21 Jan. 2023
  • This was a night to doubt the Warriors’ mettle at your peril.
    — Bruce Jenkins, SFChronicle.com, 10 June 2019
  • Leading a double life is less a burden than a test of one’s mettle.
    — Inkoo Kang, New Yorker, 9 Apr. 2026
  • One day, after a year in the gym, the coaches wanted to test his mettle.
    — Tyler R. Tynes, Los Angeles Times, 23 July 2023
  • Cromwell put his mettle to the test with an overnight HooptieX build.
    — Elana Scherr, Car and Driver, 29 July 2023
  • For many programs, this is the first real test of their playoff mettle.
    — MSNBC Newsweek, 6 Dec. 2025
  • Saarloos praised the bullpen and the team’s mettle for refusing to give in.
    — Lawrence Dow, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 24 May 2024
  • On Monday, the two leagues will test their mettle head-to-head for the second straight year.
    — Tim Bontemps, chicagotribune.com, 24 Dec. 2017
  • The saga has threatened the mettle of even the most devoted members of the space.
    — Andrew R. Chow, Time, 27 Dec. 2022
  • The Cliburn is clearly set up to test the mettle of its competitors.
    — Olin Chism, star-telegram.com, 29 May 2017
  • That depth is going to test opponents' mettle for the rest of the season.
    — Mark Stewart, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 15 Feb. 2018
  • No one can take away the championship mettle the team showed over the course of this postseason.
    — Dieter Kurtenbach, The Mercury News, 14 June 2019
  • What led up to it speaks to France’s mettle and how things that can go wrong just aren’t for the Padres.
    — Kevin Acee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 7 May 2026
  • Redick’s team, which had seen a 13-point lead evaporate, again proved its mettle in crunch time.
    — Benjamin Royer, Oc Register, 19 Mar. 2026
  • Well, Cardona has had four years to show his mettle, and the results aren’t pretty.
    — Frederick M. Hess, National Review, 24 Oct. 2024
  • The last time this columnist questioned Davis’ mettle was all of 16 days ago.
    — Bill Plaschke, Los Angeles Times, 23 May 2021
  • Medvedev showed his mettle by breaking Sinner right back to even the first set at 3-3.
    — Marc Berman, Sun Sentinel, 2 Apr. 2023
  • In some ways, the 18-mile hike tested our mettle even more than the longer Whitney hike.
    — Rachel Schnalzer, Los Angeles Times, 27 Oct. 2022
  • So which horses might have the mettle to go the distance like a champ on Saturday?
    — Mark Inabinett | [email protected], al.com, 8 June 2019

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