How to Use talon in a Sentence

talon

noun
  • The hawk gripped the mouse in its talons.
  • That’s right, fun designs aren’t just for long talons.
    — Georgia Day, Vogue, 8 Apr. 2026
  • Hawks are a type of predatory bird with sharp talons and beaks.
    — Caitlin O'Kane, CBS News, 8 Aug. 2023
  • Raptors' talons are designed to shred the flesh of their prey.
    — Katie Vogel, Cincinnati.com, 14 Dec. 2017
  • The eagle’s beauty brings tourists, but their talons kill lambs.
    — Carolyn Wells, Longreads, 13 Sep. 2023
  • But trapping peacocks, with their sharp beaks and talons, is not easy.
    — Patricia Mazzei Alfonso Duran, New York Times, 9 Aug. 2023
  • When Collins moved the olive branch from beak to talons, the image was locked.
    — Jamie Turner, cleveland.com, 17 July 2019
  • The eagle then flared its wings, stretched its talons and — in a flash — plucked a fish for lunch.
    — Tom Stienstra, San Francisco Chronicle, 6 May 2018
  • The eagle symbolizes the air and holds an item in each talon.
    — Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 26 Nov. 2019
  • The officer found the hawk hanging by its talons on the wires.
    — Washington Post, 17 May 2017
  • But slowly, week by week, the talons that for decades had gripped her loosened, and her soul slipped free.
    — Christian Wiman, Harper's Magazine, 14 Dec. 2022
  • The young male eagle was in bad shape, barely breathing, curled up, talons clenched.
    — Douglas Main, National Geographic, 26 June 2019
  • With a vole in its talons, the hand-sized bird perched on a branch outside a wooden box nailed to the tree.
    — Ned Rozell, Anchorage Daily News, 30 June 2018
  • That really got its talons into me.
    — Kevin Sintumuang, Outside, 6 Nov. 2025
  • Some collided with the sides of the aviary; others tried to grab the fence with their blunt black talons.
    — Meera Subramanian, The New Yorker, 31 Jan. 2024
  • The star paired her outfit with a ponytail, bold hoops, a bright red lip and matching red talon nails.
    — Jillian Ruffo, PEOPLE.com, 23 Oct. 2017
  • By the second overlook, an osprey with a fish in its talons soared overhead.
    — Peter Marteka, courant.com, 3 June 2017
  • In the living room, a pair of glowing eyes and a set of talons appeared at the window.
    — Maria Carter, Country Living, 21 July 2017
  • The officers were concerned about the eagle’s beak and its sharp talons.
    — Nicholas Williams, New York Daily News, 18 Feb. 2026
  • In the last gallery, a magnificent black spider teetered on steel talons.
    — Literary Hub, 17 Nov. 2025
  • The fake seal on the shop's merchandise shows the eagle clutching cash in its right talons.
    — The Washington Post, oregonlive.com, 25 July 2019
  • The fake seal on the shop’s merchandise shows the eagle clutching cash in its right talons.
    — Reis Thebault, The Denver Post, 25 July 2019
  • Since then, the talon-like detail has become a quirky house signature.
    — Maria Ward, Vogue, 10 Jan. 2018
  • The main tracks here are 4 to 8 inches long and clearly show three toes, each with a talon on the end.
    — David Lyon, BostonGlobe.com, 18 June 2019
  • Its left talons, rather than clasping 13 arrows, appear to clutch a set of golf clubs.
    — Reis Thebault, The Denver Post, 25 July 2019
  • The two made a plan to put on gloves and throw a couple of garments over them and try to untangle their talons.
    — Deanna Weniger, Twin Cities, 22 Oct. 2019
  • The boy suffered a puncture wound on his head, a cut near his eye, and other injuries from the bird's talons.
    — Stephen Hudak, OrlandoSentinel.com, 23 May 2018
  • With its talons extended, the harpy flew at one of the adult female howler monkeys, who jumped down just in time.
    — Scott Travers, Forbes.com, 17 May 2026
  • And Paxton wound up as the landing spot, sticking its talons into his back.
    — CBS News, 6 Apr. 2018
  • The real seal has a bald eagle clutching arrows in one set of talons and an olive branch in the other.
    — NBC News, 25 July 2019

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'talon.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: