How to Use shiv in a Sentence

shiv

noun
  • Crawford’s throat was slashed with a homemade knife, known as a shiv or shank.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 27 Oct. 2019
  • Maybe that’s the real irony, the way Ishiguro sticks in the shiv.
    — Judith Shulevitz, The Atlantic, 2 Mar. 2021
  • All that was missing from the game was a rusty shiv in the center circle.
    — Dieter Kurtenbach, Mercury News, 26 June 2026
  • When the dust settles, Torres looks down to see a shiv sticking out of his side.
    — EW.com, 12 Feb. 2024
  • When her character Anne Montgomery leans in, look out for a shiv.
    — Amy Nicholson, Town & Country, 24 May 2019
  • Then Greenwood lets loose a spiking shiv of a solo over a one-two-three punch rhythmic start-stop.
    — William Goodman, Billboard, 14 June 2017
  • Your elbows are jagged shivs, so clothes can be a problem, and shower curtains are a complete horror show.
    — Max Lakin, The New Yorker, 23 May 2017
  • The officer called for help as Brooks stabbed Little, who was also armed with a shiv and fought back.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 27 Oct. 2019
  • Brady's reading a big ol' hardback during yard time when Jimmy approaches with a shiv.
    — Sara Netzley, EW.com, 20 July 2022
  • That brings us to the second shiv into Medicare buried in the executive order.
    — Los Angeles Times, 4 Oct. 2019
  • Snark and a shiv carry more weight that the nuanced policy arguments about the cost of a bill or the benefits of a regulation.
    — Philip Elliott, Time, 3 Mar. 2021
  • Before getting Jess a book on how to preserve deer meat, build a fire, and whittle a shiv, grab her a portable generator.
    — Rachel Kaplan, The New Yorker, 20 Jan. 2023
  • Blunderbuss, shiv or photon torpedo Perhaps the simplest way to attack a satellite is to hit it with a missile from Earth.
    — The Economist, 18 July 2019
  • Whatever Paperny might have been expecting — a battle-scarred lifer, a guy who could turn a Bic pen into a shiv — Santos wasn’t it.
    — New York Times, 7 June 2022
  • Mac and Ray looked into history and found people to celebrate; Escola looked into history and found people to—metaphorically, of course—shiv.
    — Helen Shaw, The New Yorker, 9 Feb. 2024
  • In addition to the 10-inch machete, Budier-Herrara also had a container of pepper spray and a makeshift shiv with a plastic handle and razor blades attached by duct tape, police say.
    — miamiherald, 26 Mar. 2018
  • One way might be to hone a single, perfect statement—something narrow and vicious, a shiv to the ribs of the world that cheered your demise as your rival threw a Cheshire Cat grin at you from the Super Bowl halftime show.
    — Jayson Greene, Pitchfork, 18 May 2026
  • Just recently, the fallen mogul’s friend Charlucci Finney dropped a bombshell that a fellow inmate had put a shiv to Combs’ neck in his sleep (the BoP did not comment on this story).
    — Madeleine Marr, Miami Herald, 31 Oct. 2025
  • In this time of intense partisanship, shiv-in-the-kidney politics and squabbles over the meaning of truth, can Americans come together and agree that a politician slamming a journalist to the ground for asking a question is wrong?
    — Michael M. Grynbaum, New York Times, 25 May 2017

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