barbed wire
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of barbed wire
First recorded in 1860–65
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How does barbed-wire compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The group - consisting of about eight to ten tourists - reached the ground and made their way to the edge of the site, which was surrounded by a barbed wire fence.
From BBC • Apr. 25, 2026
In Jhapa, soldiers with armoured trucks manned barbed wire barricades around the counting centre.
From Barron's • Mar. 7, 2026
“I’m leaving here even more concerned than I was when I arrived,” Padilla said, as the detention facility, surrounded by barbed wire, loomed behind him.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 20, 2026
The O’Smach building in which they were held was surrounded by high corrugated iron walls topped with barbed wire.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 23, 2025
That tail scratched like barbed wire as it flicked across my winter-frozen face.
From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson
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.
