no holds barred

1. Without any restrictions, as in Telephone companies are entering the market for Internet users with no holds barred. This expression comes from wrestling, where certain holds are illegal, or barred, and has been used figuratively since about 1940.

Example Sentences

"This is a no holds barred conversation. You can say anything you want and I want to know what you really think about this issue," she said.

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This time it's no holds barred, straight-up grift and corruption in the billions, featuring foreign governments, sleazy scam artists and a big play in the arcane world of cryptocurrency.

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“The Israelis have made it very clear that they would go in with no holds barred, this would be a massive operation,” said Mona Yacoubian, who heads the Middle East and North Africa Center at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington.

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Writer and creator Knight promised the film would leave "no holds barred".

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Across the 27-nation EU, the political landscape is becoming increasingly polarized, with no holds barred between mainstream parties on the one hand and the bellicose populists and extremists on the other.

Read more on Seattle Times

Related Words

• angrily 
• boldly 
• brutally www.thesaurus.com
• ferociously www.thesaurus.com
• forcefully www.thesaurus.com
• frantically 
• furiously 
• madly 
• mightily 
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• savagely www.thesaurus.com
• severely 
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• wildly www.thesaurus.com