Thesaurus results for CANING

caning

verb

present participle of cane

as in spanking

Related Words

Relevance

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for caning

Verb

Some go further, flagellating themselves or using a sword to strike their forehead to draw blood.

— Nabih Bulos, Los Angeles Times, 22 June 2026
His only way of finding any kind of life for himself is to embrace evil, to stop running away from it, to try to stop morally flagellating himself.

— Charlotte Observer, Charlotte Observer, 25 Feb. 2026

Definition of flagellating

Verb

But Varma and Shivam Dube (27) upped the ante in the final three overs by smacking 57 runs against Sufyan Moqim, Ayub and Ahmed Daniyal.

— ABC News, ABC News, 3 Oct. 2026
Carrington was ejected from the game in the first half after smacking Cunningham across the face during Cunningham's layup attempt.

— Jackson Thompson OutKick, FOXNews.com, 9 Aug. 2026

Definition of smacking

Verb

Intriguingly, this might not just be slapping boards into a plastic box.

— Sean Hollister, The Verge, 21 Oct. 2026
That incident involved Smith rushing the stage and slapping host Chris Rock with an open hand after the Oscars host made jokes about Jada Pinkett Smith.

— Tracy Brown, Los Angeles Times, 19 Oct. 2026

Definition of slapping

Verb

Adam Rodriguez as Ruben Chapa, a trainer at the local El Centro boxing gym.

— Rosy Cordero, Deadline, 30 Sep. 2026
Eubank Jr was seven years older than Benn, five years further into his professional career and, more pertinently, boxing at middleweight, three weight classes higher than super-lightweight Benn.

— Sarah Shephard, New York Times, 10 Sep. 2026

Definition of boxing

Verb

Your colleagues might be chopping, stirring and whipping up a meal on the other side of your video call, a new survey found.

— Deirdre Bardolf, FOXNews.com, 17 Oct. 2026
The stock also looked somewhat complacent, with the equity chopping around historical support levels dating back to May 2025.

— Michael Khouw, CNBC, 16 Oct. 2026

Definition of chopping

Verb

Modern readers may take heart in the fact that there are many excellent critics thwacking through the slop—albeit with freelance machetes, on newfangled platforms.

— Brittany Allen, Literary Hub, 27 Apr. 2026
Max Weinberg sat at his set, thwacking his floor tom, while Lahav fiddled with his dials, stalked into the studio to unplug, replug, and then just physically move the microphone closer to the set, then to the side, and then farther away.

— Peter Ames Carlin, Rolling Stone, 13 Aug. 2025

Definition of thwacking

Verb

There are frightening stories of swordfish charging boats, and even spearing their transoms and whacking propellers.

— Bob McNally, Outdoor Life, 26 Aug. 2026
Yes, there were moments of humor, such as getting magic potions around the campfire at the end of each stage by whacking helpless little elves, but most of it was played straight, to great effect.

— Ollie Barder, Forbes.com, 21 Aug. 2026

Definition of whacking

Verb

Antetokounmpo was everywhere, throwing a down a poster dunk over Mavericks center Daniel Gafford, hitting pull-up threes and assisting on a bunch of the Heat’s three-pointers.

— Anthony Chiang, Miami Herald, 27 Oct. 2026
Each draw is tied to Anthropic hitting certain compute capacity milestones.

— Ashley Capoot,Jordan Novet,Annie Palmer,Lora Kolodny,Kai Nicol-Schwarz,Caleigh Keating, CNBC, 26 Oct. 2026

Definition of hitting

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

canines

caning

canister

See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

Style

“Caning.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/caning. Accessed 28 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation

Synonyms of caning

verb

Example Sentences

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

grotesque

Popular in Grammar & Usage

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Popular in Wordplay

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Why do we 'bury the lede?'

'Za' and 9 Other Words to Help You Win at SCRABBLE

Popular

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Games & Quizzes