take-no-prisoners
Americanadjective
Etymology
Origin of take-no-prisoners
First recorded in 1990–95
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.
Bobby Axelrod, the hard-charging, take-no-prisoners billionaire who served as the antagonist-cum-co-protagonist for the first five seasons of “Billions,” returns at the end of the show’s seventh and final season premiere.
From New York Times ● Aug. 11, 2023
Mr. Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate, has signaled that he plans to run as a happy warrior, seeing it as a way to distance himself from Mr. Trump’s take-no-prisoners approach to politics.
From Washington Times ● May 19, 2023
Forced ranking of employees was famously pioneered by Jack Welch, the take-no-prisoners CEO of General Electric, who influenced a generation of top executives at Boeing.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 6, 2023
When Thurston spoke to Cummings about her relative privilege, her mentor had a take-no-prisoners reply: “Women, especially in comedy, already have it hard enough,” Thurston remembers Cummings telling her.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 1, 2023
After the dinner rush, the entire kitchen is a mess, like there was some kind of take-no-prisoners food fights.
From "Dumplin'" by Julie Murphy
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.
