How to Use strong-arm in a Sentence

strong-arm

1 of 2 adjective
  • Time and time again, courts have slapped down these strong-arm tactics that lack the force of law.
    — Bob Morgan, Chicago Tribune, 2 Jan. 2026
  • The crime comes amid a spike in strong-arm robberies in Oakland.
    — Misty Severi, Washington Examiner, 1 June 2023
  • Netflix is already trying to strong-arm customers onto its ad plan.
    — Scharon Harding, Ars Technica, 24 Jan. 2024
  • But the strong-arm scenarios played out in dozens of phone videos gone viral overshadow these laudable efforts.
    — Boston Herald Staff, Twin Cities, 16 Dec. 2025
  • On paper, Turks had many reasons to be dissatisfied with their leader and to push back against his strong-arm rule.
    — Soner Cagaptay, Foreign Affairs, 29 May 2023
  • Bananas worms his way in and tries to strong-arm the conversation, which pisses off Danny and Sarah.
    — Sydney Bucksbaum, EW.com, 5 Apr. 2023
  • Newsom and lawmakers used that opening to strong-arm the companies, although the deal does not give drivers an explicit right to strike.
    — The Editorial Board, Oc Register, 9 Sep. 2025
  • Soon after, police received a report of a strong-arm robbery on the 1300 block of 7th Avenue.
    — Tim Fang, CBS News, 1 May 2026
  • Disney, meanwhile, has accused the streamer of using its position within Google to strong-arm content owners.
    — Jacob Feldman, Sportico.com, 30 Oct. 2025
  • Trump has, so far, appeared reluctant to slap Russia with fresh sanctions to strong-arm the Kremlin in peace negotiations.
    — Ellie Cook, MSNBC Newsweek, 19 Aug. 2025
  • But strong-arm tactics are not the main focus of Temu's latest court filing against the fast-fashion juggernaut, according to Scafidi.
    — Anne Marie Lee, CBS News, 21 Dec. 2023
  • Those included the ways in which grand juries have been used in the special counsel’s investigations and attempts to strong-arm defense lawyers involved in the cases, the people said.
    — Alan Feuer, BostonGlobe.com, 5 June 2023
  • In December, Marrero had been charged with domestic battery by strangulation and strong-arm robbery.
    — Grethel Aguila, Miami Herald, 17 Apr. 2024
  • Its bid to strong-arm Europe through gas and energy exports may have failed, but the Kremlin has other tools at its disposal, one of which concerns the global supply of food.
    — Michael Kimmage and Hanna Notte, Foreign Affairs, 1 Sep. 2023
  • There have been 31 personal strong-arm robberies in 2025, versus 26 in 2024.
    — Charlotte Observer, 13 Oct. 2025
  • But two of the biggest chains appear to be at odds over how they most effectively strong-arm companies like Unilever and PepsiCo into dropping prices.
    — Ryan Hogg, Fortune Europe, 8 Jan. 2024
  • The Democrats’ anger has been building all year, as immigration enforcement agents have used what critics say are strong-arm tactics to find undocumented immigrants.
    — David Lightman, Sacbee.com, 14 Jan. 2026
  • And that danger was more acute on account of my intent to be fair, ethical, moral — no stretching my dope with acetone, propane or extra baking soda nor shorting customers grams; no plotting how to strong-arm somebody else’s dope or stash.
    — Mitchell S. Jackson, New York Times, 20 Dec. 2023
  • There have been 19 commercial strong-arm robberies and commercial armed robberies in 2025, up from 10 in 2024.
    — Charlotte Observer, 13 Oct. 2025
  • In the most recent legislative session, Abbott tried and failed to strong-arm Texas Republicans into passing a universal-school-voucher bill.
    — Rachel Monroe, The New Yorker, 8 Feb. 2024
  • El Salvador has seen multiple radical and often controversial reforms under the strong-arm president’s leadership.
    — Michael Rios, CNN, 7 Apr. 2024
  • The government has previously tried to charge Lemon in a steadily escalating campaign involving a string of highly unusual legal moves to strong-arm courts into conceding to its demands.
    — Winston Cho, HollywoodReporter, 30 Jan. 2026
  • Applying Pressure Activists are trying to capitalize on the threat of the election to strong-arm politicians into supporting anti-data center measures.
    — Andrew R. Chow, Time, 19 June 2026
  • But they are mentioned without context, in a way that underlines the Smithsonian’s touchy relationship with an administration that has not hesitated to strong-arm the institution.
    — Kelsey Ables, The Atlantic, 15 May 2026
  • The White House’s push to suppress the Smithsonian’s programming is part of an attempt to strong-arm influential cultural institutions and, in turn, culture itself.
    — Lily Meyer, The Atlantic, 22 Jan. 2026
  • Heritage Action had a different purpose—to strong-arm Republicans in Congress into acting more conservatively.
    — Andy Kroll, New Yorker, 17 Oct. 2025
  • Heritage Action had a different purpose — to strong-arm Republicans in Congress into acting more conservatively.
    — Andy Kroll, ProPublica, 18 Oct. 2025
  • If Popular dropped today, Ryan Murphy's first TV baby would be a streaming hit with enough TikTok edits to strong-arm execs into a renewal.
    — James Mercadante, EW.com, 22 Aug. 2025
  • The move was the latest broadside — encouraged by the French government — to try to strong-arm manufacturers to lower food costs that have continued to buffet families despite a broad slowdown in price increases across Europe.
    — Liz Alderman, New York Times, 4 Jan. 2024
  • The San Francisco-area rapper who founded Cookies is being accused of using strong-arm and bullying tactics to run the popular cannabis brand, and forcing other companies to pay him and top executives millions of dollars in kickbacks to do business.
    — Salvador Hernandez, Los Angeles Times, 27 Apr. 2023

strong-arm

2 of 2 verb
  • And if two media companies were strong-armed out of the deal, were their First Amendment rights violated?
    — Robertas Bakula, Oc Register, 15 Apr. 2026
  • The Democrats’ anger has been building all year, as immigration enforcement agents have used what critics say are strong-arm tactics to find undocumented immigrants.
    — David Lightman, Sacbee.com, 14 Jan. 2026
  • Castellanos Triminio faces charges of strong-arm robbery, child neglect, false imprisonment, and battery by strangulation.
    — February 23, CBS News, 23 Feb. 2026
  • Hezbollah, for the longest time, was strong-arming other parties, and they are accused of assassinating a former Prime Minister.
    — Isaac Chotiner, New Yorker, 20 Mar. 2026
  • Trump over the weekend shook the NATO alliance by threatening tariffs on Europe to strong-arm his aim of taking over Greenland.
    — Michelle L. Price, Chicago Tribune, 21 Jan. 2026
  • Four suspects were arrested in San Francisco last week after a strong-arm robbery and several auto burglaries, police said Monday.
    — Carlos E. Castañeda, CBS News, 6 Apr. 2026
  • But other commentators credited Trump with strong-arming Mexico into confronting the cartels.
    — Foreign Correspondent, Los Angeles Times, 25 Feb. 2026
  • Like many Americans, a growing number have misgivings about the strong-arm tactics used by government immigration enforcement agents in places such as Minnesota.
    — Alex Hinton, The Conversation, 26 Mar. 2026
  • The government has previously tried to charge Lemon in a steadily escalating campaign involving a string of highly unusual legal moves to strong-arm courts into conceding to its demands.
    — Winston Cho, HollywoodReporter, 30 Jan. 2026
  • Tech leaders have quietly backed Anthropic, saying that AI isn’t ready for some weapons and that strong-arming companies is counterproductive and antidemocratic.
    — Los Angeles Times, 20 Mar. 2026
  • The White House’s push to suppress the Smithsonian’s programming is part of an attempt to strong-arm influential cultural institutions and, in turn, culture itself.
    — Lily Meyer, The Atlantic, 22 Jan. 2026
  • Now, the question of whether the US could again use force – or tactics like tariffs or sanctions – to strong-arm countries into choosing Washington’s interests over ties with China is a viable risk being evaluated in the region’s capitals.
    — Simone McCarthy, CNN Money, 31 Jan. 2026

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