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sucker-punch
[ suhk-er-puhnch ]
verb (used with object)
- to strike (someone) with an unexpected blow.
sucker punch
noun
- a sudden surprise punch, esp from behind
- a sudden unexpected defeat or setback
Other 51Թ Forms
- sucker punch noun
Idioms and Phrases
An unexpected blow, as in They felt that suddenly raising the interest rate was a sucker punch to the administration . This expression comes from boxing, where it is used for a punch delivered unexpectedly; boxing great Jack Dempsey wrote, “The right lead [for a right-handed boxer] is called a sucker punch.” [ Slang ; mid-1900s]Example Sentences
With that approach, the album goes right back to the sucker-punch sound of Gaga's early hits like Poker Face, Just Dance and Born This Way.
The New York Times Book Review says this thriller about four families struggling to find the truth in the shadow of a terrible accident has “a sucker-punch ending you’ll have to read twice to believe,” and multiple reviewers praise Audrain’s observations about the dark side of motherhood.
Blackburn break after a dreadful pass form Crysecnio Summerville near the halfway line and nearly come up with a sucker-punch.
Instead, just three days later, they fell victim to a late sucker-punch as McBurnie fired in from close range in the 93rd minute to earn a point for the Premier League's bottom side.
That home sucker-punch was sealed by a VAR awarded penalty, but this time, technology was Aberdeen's saviour.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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