How to Use ramrod in a Sentence

ramrod

noun
  • Some walk or point (the men), others are ramrod still (the women).
    — Jason Farago, New York Times, 6 June 2018
  • Yet the most striking thing about Owens is his hair — which is long, jet-black and ramrod-straight.
    — Alexander Fury, New York Times, 9 Mar. 2017
  • There are an amazing number of huge white pines, all single trunks growing ramrod-straight.
    — Peter Marteka, courant.com, 5 May 2018
  • DeRuntz poured gunpowder down the shaft, stuffing it down with a metal ramrod.
    — Carole Carlson, chicagotribune.com, 28 Sep. 2021
  • Tall, slender and with ramrod straight posture, Wright takes the audience along with her on her journey.
    — Joanne Engelhardt, The Mercury News, 18 July 2019
  • Her posture gradually goes from ramrod-straight to slightly slumped.
    — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 7 Apr. 2022
  • Stankey stands at 6-foot-5, and has a booming voice and the ramrod-straight posture of a military leader.
    — Variety, 9 Apr. 2022
  • Each morning, Chauvin stood ramrod straight to welcome Cahill into the courtroom.
    — Washington Post, 15 Mar. 2021
  • Galli sat ramrod straight, unruffled, scrolling and replying.
    — Alexandra Marshall, WSJ, 11 Oct. 2017
  • Fred Darling — whose ramrod-straight military persona faced a constant joyful barrage at home — put his foot down on snakes.
    — Washington Post, 21 Sep. 2020
  • The woman on his hip stood ramrod straight, proudly displaying a navy blue InfoWars T-shirt.
    — Zach Schermele, Teen Vogue, 18 July 2018
  • Naird’s situation is of a man with ramrod-straight posture prostrated and disarrayed at many odd angles.
    — Troy Patterson, The New Yorker, 28 May 2020
  • It is adorned with three generic Confederate soldiers holding ramrods, rifles and swords.
    — Chico Harlan, Washington Post, 20 Aug. 2017
  • When not feeding, many inchworms disguise themselves like leaf stems or twigs by standing on their hind legs ramrod-straight and freezing like a living statue performer.
    — Miri Talabac, Baltimore Sun, 21 July 2022
  • Tall, graying and standing ramrod straight, Franken's approach is understated.
    — Thomas Beaumont, ajc, 14 May 2022
  • Members of a Marine honor guard trailed behind, clad in navy blue uniforms, white caps and white gloves, marching ramrod-straight to muffled drums and the clip-clop of horse hoofs.
    — Ian Shapira, Washington Post, 26 Nov. 2019
  • Cher’s contemplative expression and ramrod sedentary posture gave her the aura of a Byzantine icon.
    — New York Times, 9 Dec. 2020
  • Bartlett’s posture is ramrod straight, his voice a pleasant, precise British lilt that’s nothing like his natural Australian accent.
    — Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 26 June 2026
  • The parents—a dapper young fogy with ramrod posture and a soulful, slightly rumpled bluestocking—stand behind two tidy little girls in matching sailor suits.
    — Judith Thurman, The New Yorker, 11 Sep. 2023
  • In the klatch of voters watching from their lawn chairs, a woman in a blue windbreaker, maybe in her late twenties, sat ramrod straight, the phone tightly gripped in her hand forgotten for the moment.
    — Walter Shapiro, The New Republic, 4 Oct. 2019
  • Since breaking his leg last summer, Blomstedt — tall, angular, and ramrod-straight as ever — now conducts seated on a piano bench.
    — Hannah Edgar, Chicago Tribune, 10 Mar. 2023
  • DeAngelo stood stone-faced and ramrod straight in a courtroom cage, never looking at the courtroom packed with survivors, relatives, reporters and at least a half-dozen armed bailiffs.
    — Fox News, 23 Aug. 2018
  • Other key features include a Quake Claw sling, reversible cocking spur, and a solid aluminum PalmSaver ramrod.
    — Brad Fitzpatrick, Outdoor Life, 26 Feb. 2019
  • More significantly, they are loaded through the barrel like an old Revolutionary War musket, with the bullet tamped down with a ramrod.
    — Oliver Staley, Quartz, 23 Oct. 2020
  • Yet in his own starring vehicle, Black Adam is barely cooler than Hawkman, who Hodge plays as oddly likable in his ramrod straightness.
    — Jesse Hassenger, Chron, 18 Oct. 2022
  • Salmon radiates power, perpetually standing ramrod-straight in his striking costume, which suggests both military and royal authority.
    — Samantha Nelson, The Verge, 12 June 2019
  • Lia Grimanis, the founder of Up with Women, an organization that helps recently homeless women and families, regards the ramrod-straight with awe.
    — Patricia Marx, The New Yorker, 22 Mar. 2021
  • Its protagonist, played with ramrod conviction by Gary Cooper, is a dogmatic modern architect, Howard Roark, who would prefer to starve than to build in the classical style.
    — Mark Lamster, Dallas News, 7 Feb. 2020
  • An aloof, ramrod-straight Chun during his mid-1990s trial defended the coup as necessary to save the nation from a political crisis and denied sending troops into Gwangju.
    — Reuters, CNN, 23 Nov. 2021
  • Young Washington, a new biopic, gives us pre-Revolutionary George, early-20s George, pale, petulant, virginal, ramrod-straight, and bristling with awkwardness and ambition.
    — James Parker, The Atlantic, 16 June 2026

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