swashbuckle
Americanverb (used without object)
Etymology
Origin of swashbuckle
First recorded in 1895–1900; back formation from swashbuckler
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.
See Examples For:
Sterling K. Brown, an executive producer, plays Medwin, a character much expanded from the novel, the unofficial mayor of the Black community who will swashbuckle in when a day needs to be saved.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2025
Intrigue abounds, not least over whether England can swashbuckle their way to success against an Australian bowling attack that is pound-for-pound the best on the planet.
From BBC ● Jun. 15, 2023
Abrams said audiences should expect “great, daring swashbuckle fun” as Rey, Poe and Finn team together, a “moving” story and even “horror” at times.
From Reuters ● Dec. 13, 2019
She has nothing but distaste for those who busk it, who prefer to swashbuckle their way through Westminster and Whitehall instead of doing their homework and taking their time.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 18, 2017
These men, it might be noticed, were the congenital adventurers, men who needed to swashbuckle and revel in the name of individualist.
From Rastignac the Devil by Philip José Farmer
“So what has gone wrong for Marcelo Bielsa’s team, who swashbuckled to ninth place last season but languish in the bottom three?”
From The Guardian ● Oct. 1, 2021
They should be high on confidence right now, too, having swashbuckled magnificently to snatch the play-off spot in their group from Scotland.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 13, 2015
He galloped over the moors on horseback and swashbuckled energetically with a poker, but displayed no talent for depravity.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 20, 2011
For one giddy moment last week, playing like champions, they even swashbuckled themselves to the top of the league.
From Time Magazine Archive
Rajah scattered the seeds about, spurned the banana-tip, tilted the water-cup and swashbuckled generally.
From Parrot & Co. by Harold MacGrath
"So many of the heroes in our own lives don't have that big swashbuckling moment," he says.
From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026
A swashbuckling swagger was all part of the culture as well.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 29, 2026
Vice President JD Vance told the mourners Graham was an affable, gregarious politician who would slap Senate colleagues on the back and had a passion for engaging opponents in "swashbuckling" debate.
From Barron's ● Jul. 28, 2026
“He’d come to 101 Park Avenue, where I was a lawyer. He had this swashbuckling style,” Witkoff told a surprised Tucker Carlson on an early-2025 appearance on Carlson’s podcast.
From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2026
At the moment, Cassiopeia and her brothers were merrily swashbuckling ’round the nursery, slashing at imaginary foes.
From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
