How to Use zap in a Sentence

zap

1 of 2 verb
  • The aliens in the movie zapped people from spaceships.
  • The flowers were zapped by the cold weather.
  • We tape the show so we can zap through the commercials.
  • I zapped through the channels for a while before falling asleep.
  • She reheated her muffin by zapping it in the microwave for a few seconds.
  • Because once they’re zapped, they’re gone.
    — Avery Newmark, AJC.com, 18 Mar. 2026
  • In other ways, though, time has zapped some of the thriller’s zing.
    — Matthew J. Palm, orlandosentinel.com, 17 Oct. 2019
  • Lasers that focus on zapping drones out of the sky.
    — Lesley Stahl, CBS News, 15 Mar. 2026
  • But the first trimester zapped her energy.
    — Ishani Desai, Sacbee.com, 10 May 2026
  • There’s an herbal, grassy finish here that belies the malt and zaps away some heft.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 17 Sep. 2019
  • Even so, this still topped the list for both ease of use and ability to zap out spots.
    — Rachel Chang, Condé Nast Traveler, 17 Aug. 2025
  • The alcohol will zap the oily residue and grime left by a human hand.
    — Berit Thorkelson, Better Homes & Gardens, 2 Aug. 2022
  • Wait to dig the tubers until a killing freeze zaps all the foliage.
    — Megan Hughes, Better Homes & Gardens, 3 Oct. 2025
  • How does a mere set of sheets completely zap sweat and moisture?
    — Melissa Epifano, PEOPLE.com, 9 May 2022
  • Febreze not only zapped cooking odors fast but also kept them away.
    — Carolyn Forté, Good Housekeeping, 15 Aug. 2023
  • The alcohol will zap the oily residue and grime left by a human hand.
    — Alicia Chilton, Better Homes & Gardens, 23 Dec. 2025
  • You’re not zapped back into your normal brain so quickly.
    — P.e. Moskowitz september 11, Literary Hub, 11 Sep. 2025
  • And a late-season storm can zap buds and flowers that were just getting ready to open.
    — Brandee Gruener, Southern Living, 4 Feb. 2026
  • Cheryl Gill told me to zap it in the microwave it in the husk for three minutes.
    — Karina Bland, The Arizona Republic, 5 Aug. 2020
  • And then, the team’s occasional bullpen woes zapped them again.
    — Susan Slusser, SFChronicle.com, 18 July 2019
  • The sample was then placed in an atom probe and zapped with a laser, displacing atoms one by one.
    — Sophie Lewis, CBS News, 7 Feb. 2020
  • Plus a tape measure to get the tree diameters and a laser to zap tree heights.
    — Simon Lewis, Quartz Africa, 12 Mar. 2020
  • Still, something about the process can zap the creativity right out of us.
    — Washington Post, 12 Aug. 2021
  • Existing laser weapons focus on zapping drones out of the sky.
    — Kelsey D. Atherton, Popular Science, 2 May 2023
  • Now Johnson just has to hope that his party doesn't choose to zap him instead.
    — David Meyer, Fortune, 12 Jan. 2022
  • That happened three times this season, and two of them zapped the Chiefs’ chances to win a game.
    — Sam McDowell December 15, Kansas City Star, 15 Dec. 2025
  • These 15 recipes are a major step up from zapping a bag of frozen broccoli.
    — Maggie Meyer Glisan, Better Homes & Gardens, 17 June 2026
  • No one seems happy to still be zapping themselves with electrodes.
    — Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 26 June 2026
  • That building itself is shrink-zapped and fought over at various points.
    — Soren Andersen, The Seattle Times, 2 July 2018
  • Before heading out, make sure your phone has a full charge — the app zapped my battery quickly.
    — Laura High, The Know, 5 Dec. 2019

zap

2 of 2 noun
  • The front left tire needs another zap from the torque gun.
    — Rob Reed, Forbes.com, 8 Sep. 2025
  • Wait to dig the tubers until a killing freeze zaps all the foliage.
    — Megan Hughes, Better Homes & Gardens, 14 July 2023
  • Those tart, hot zaps of ceviche are ideal in the summer.
    — Cesar Hernandez, San Francisco Chronicle, 10 July 2023
  • Two nights earlier, what felt like a brain zap jolted me awake.
    — Morgan Stephens, CNN, 23 July 2021
  • Keeping them clean, though, might require something with a bit more zap.
    — Wired, 3 Dec. 2019
  • These can include dizziness, fatigue and brain zaps.
    — The New York Times News Service Syndicate, San Diego Union-Tribune, 27 Jan. 2026
  • The audience is less likely to zip, zap, or ignore ads when watched live.
    — Kirk Wakefield, Forbes, 7 July 2021
  • With so little time between the switch of lights and the zap, the subjects still thought the center light was on.
    — Carl Zimmer, Discover Magazine, 25 Mar. 2019
  • Who’s messing with the lights and filling the air with menacing rumbles and zaps?
    — Sara Holdren, Vulture, 29 Sep. 2025
  • With an electric zap, the liquid shifts forward; its body follows with the air sac acting like a tail.
    — Rasha Aridi, Smithsonian Magazine, 22 Dec. 2021
  • But, unlike a team of costumed supervillains, they can’t be halted with a punch in the snoot or a zap from a ray gun.
    — Christian Holub, EW.com, 16 Aug. 2017
  • Pickard's happy hour crowd were swapping digital cash in milliseconds at one cent a zap.
    — Shawn Tully, Fortune, 7 Feb. 2021
  • Isaac-Slurp uses the magic ball to make the machine go zippity-zap.
    — Jessica M. Goldstein, Vulture, 3 Sep. 2025
  • The feeling was electric, the quick zaps and relief, the lingering pain and pleasure.
    — Irina Groushevaia, Bon Appétit, 19 Feb. 2020
  • The range can sense when a pan is on it and uses an electromagnetic field to zap heat into the metal.
    — Los Angeles Times, 16 Dec. 2021
  • Some people report feeling dizzy and hearing noises when brain zaps happen.
    — Maggie O'Neill, Health, 4 July 2023
  • Skip the office microwave All that stands between you and a hot, homemade lunch is a zap in the microwave.
    — The New York Times News Service Syndicate, San Diego Union-Tribune, 24 Sep. 2025
  • The latter has an easy lope made menacing by a cartoon-alien zap answered by other machines that caw like birds.
    — Michaelangelo Matos, Rolling Stone, 16 Aug. 2025
  • So some fish feel the zap of the barrier less, and others may not be impacted by the barrier at all and pass freely.
    — Carolyn Hagler, Smithsonian Magazine, 9 May 2023
  • Score a microwave bacon cooker that makes crispy bacon in a zap, or grab a nonstick loaf pan for a clean and easy bake every time.
    — Rebecca Jones, Southern Living, 29 Dec. 2025
  • Zapping that skin with electricity can actually feel like a zap to the hand.
    — WIRED, 10 Aug. 2023
  • Think about the simple telegraph set, where one wire carries a signal that is transmitted one zap or quiet space at a time.
    — Caroline Delbert, Popular Mechanics, 29 Apr. 2022
  • One of these projects involves using catapults to launch small unmanned aircraft which zap clouds with an electric charge.
    — Paul Douglas, Star Tribune, 28 May 2021
  • Batters have to wear shock collars and the opposing team is allowed 10 zaps per inning.
    — Danny Hermosillo, Houston Chronicle, 20 Feb. 2020
  • But bleach, a powerful cleaner, can be used to zap germs, brighten surfaces, and eliminate odors.
    — Megan Boettcher, Better Homes & Gardens, 4 Aug. 2022
  • And yet…Friedkin, for all his virtuosic kinesthetic vérité zap, was very much in thrall to the theater.
    — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 6 Sep. 2023
  • But after the skin-deep injection, researchers must hold a device over the spot that gives a little electrical zap.
    — NBC News, 9 Apr. 2020
  • Indeed, the spectacle of the zap emerged from a community with strong ties to live performance.
    — Sascha Cohen, Smithsonian, 10 July 2018
  • This lets the fabric zap microorganisms to prevent them from reproducing.
    — Courtney Linder, Popular Mechanics, 5 June 2020
  • If this student has veered away from the assignment a few too many times, the teacher can take remote control of the device and zap the tab themselves.
    — Wired, 4 Aug. 2022

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