drubbing
Americannoun
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a beating; a sound thrashing.
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a decisive, humiliating defeat, as in a game or contest.
noun
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a beating, as with a stick, cudgel, etc
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a comprehensive or heavy defeat, esp in a sporting competition
Etymology
Origin of drubbing
Explanation
A drubbing in sports is a defeat, especially by a wide margin. Your team's 100-point loss in the dodgeball tournament could be called a drubbing. Ouch. When one team soundly beats another, that's a drubbing. You can also use this word for a more literal kind of beating, actually physically striking someone: "My brother threatened to give that bully a drubbing if he keeps teasing me." The word comes from the verb drub, "to beat," probably from the Arabic root daraba, "he beat up."
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.
He’d take a drubbing in the vote, and he’s far too smart to let that happen.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 14, 2026
Sunday's 6-2 drubbing of Panama in their penultimate match before the World Cup kicks off was encouraging.
From BBC • Jun. 1, 2026
Reduced to 40 percent of seats after a drubbing in the 2024 general election, Nelson Mandela's former liberation movement has been forced into an often-uneasy coalition with nine other parties.
From Barron's • May 8, 2026
Grant did not avoid responsibility for the drubbing he’d just taken.
From Slate • Apr. 13, 2026
“Bit of a drubbing, if I’m being honest.”
From "City Spies" by James Ponti
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.
