as in to wax
to defeat by a large margin
the local football team was shellacked 35-0 in their final outing for the season
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Recent Examples of shellac
Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium* The Colts, before collapsing, arguably had their best game of their season in the opener against the Dolphins, a 33-8 shellacking in Indiana.
—
Chris Perkins, Sun Sentinel, 5 Jan. 2026
Slide into a booth and prepare for your taste buds to dance over crusty rosemary and focaccia shellacked with tomato and sea urchin butter, and flaky halibut adorned with marigolds and tangy mushrooms.
—Kristin Braswell, Travel + Leisure, 5 Jan. 2026
This game was much closer than the 41-17 shellacking the Ravens gave the Browns back in Week 2.
—Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 17 Nov. 2025
While Cincinnati’s visit to Detroit was one of the more intriguing matchups on the fall calendar, the loss of Joe Burrow and the Bengals’ subsequent 48-10 shellacking under the horns of the Vikings have made the team a liability of sorts.
—Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 3 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for shellac
Chris Perkins, Sun Sentinel, 5 Jan. 2026
Slide into a booth and prepare for your taste buds to dance over crusty rosemary and focaccia shellacked with tomato and sea urchin butter, and flaky halibut adorned with marigolds and tangy mushrooms.
—Kristin Braswell, Travel + Leisure, 5 Jan. 2026
This game was much closer than the 41-17 shellacking the Ravens gave the Browns back in Week 2.
—Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 17 Nov. 2025
While Cincinnati’s visit to Detroit was one of the more intriguing matchups on the fall calendar, the loss of Joe Burrow and the Bengals’ subsequent 48-10 shellacking under the horns of the Vikings have made the team a liability of sorts.
—Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 3 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for shellac
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shellac
Verb
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Look to the eastern sky at midday on April 22 to find the 30%-lit waxing crescent moon close to the horizon, with its lower half hidden in shadow.—
Anthony Wood,
Space.com,
22 Apr. 2026
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The early-setting, waxing crescent moon will provide a perfectly dark sky in the evening.—
Avni Trivedi,
CNN Money,
21 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Return soup to the soup pot and add the half-and-half or cream and stir into blend.—
Mary Ann Esposito,
Boston Herald,
22 Apr. 2026
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Call it cream that would stand up like mayonnaise, cream that no taste bud would ever forget.—
John McPhee,
New Yorker,
20 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Much earlier, in 1983, a plot by the IRA to bomb a Duran Duran concert at the Dominion Theatre was discovered.—
StyleCaster Editors,
StyleCaster,
29 Apr. 2026
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Yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Israeli military personnel that the terms of the ceasefire with Lebanon allow Israel to continue bombing throughout the country.—
Mustafa Qadri,
CNN Money,
28 Apr. 2026
Verb
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How Disney’s founder, namesake, and first CEO overcame the crisis of his day may give D’Amaro a blueprint for his.—
Roland Betancourt,
Fortune,
28 Apr. 2026
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But even more inspiring was their determination to overcome enormous losses and difficulties to try to make new lives for themselves.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
28 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Read on to discover what the chefs will be whipping us this year at Culinary Masters.—
Nicole Hoey,
Robb Report,
24 Apr. 2026
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In a video obtained by WBZ, Nguyen can be seen sitting on the side of the mountain as the wind whipped around him.—
Abigail Adams,
PEOPLE,
22 Apr. 2026
Verb
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The houses, deemed radioactive, had been levelled and buried, along with the apple orchard.—
Lizzie Johnson,
New Yorker,
25 Apr. 2026
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Glen Powell had to face his fears about the face of Hulu’s Chad Powers as co-creator, executive producer and star, even if that face typically is literally buried under layers of prosthetics.—
Scott Huver,
Deadline,
25 Apr. 2026
Verb
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McDaniel even made a wanted poster with Mitchell’s face on it and pasted it to the wall inside the Chargers facility.—
Daniel Popper,
New York Times,
27 Apr. 2026
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Even two years ago, hackers could take the details of a disclosure and paste it into ChatGPT, then tell the bot to scan a public database of source code such as GitHub for other patterns which could then be exploited.—
Parmy Olson,
Twin Cities,
18 Apr. 2026
Verb
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All of the carcasses that washed ashore had been skinned, Cole said, with some missing their front paws.—
Francie Ebert,
NBC news,
3 Apr. 2026
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In tight spaces where a straight driver can't complete a full rotation, that elbow geometry is the difference between finishing the job and abandoning it after hurting your wrist, skinning your knuckles, and questioning your life choices.—
Omar Kardoudi
March 05,
New Atlas,
5 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Shellac.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shellac. Accessed 1 May. 2026.
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