: a hand or power tool or a machine used to cut hard material (such as wood, metal, or bone) and equipped usually with a toothed blade or disk
1
: to cut with a saw
2
: to produce or form by cutting with a saw
3
: to slash as though with a saw
1
a
: to use a saw
b
: to cut with or as if with a saw
2
: to undergo cutting with a saw
3
: to make motions as though using a saw
sawed at the reins
Examples of saw in a Sentence
Verb
He sawed the boards in half.
This blade is too dull for sawing.
Noun
it's an old saw that a red sunset presages fair skies the next day
Recent Examples on the Web
John Bacon, USA Today, 26 May 2025
Over roughly a decade, approximately 8,000 giant sequoias — some aged over 2,000 years — were felled using cross-cut saws, axes, steam donkeys and elaborate flume systems that transported logs to distant mills.
—Scott Travers, Forbes.com, 24 May 2025
Michael Wells, Kansas City Star, 18 May 2025
On the other end of the scale, lots of small, fine teeth would get clogged up trying to cut through softwood; they’re designed for sawing through steel and other metals, where the waste comes away as tiny fragments.
—Bestreviews, Chicago Tribune, 6 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for saw
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Noun
Police later recovered a saw from the home, prosecutors said.
—John Bacon, USA Today, 26 May 2025
Over roughly a decade, approximately 8,000 giant sequoias — some aged over 2,000 years — were felled using cross-cut saws, axes, steam donkeys and elaborate flume systems that transported logs to distant mills.
—Scott Travers, Forbes.com, 24 May 2025
Verb
However, starting in the 1930s, thieves unwilling to move the heavy statues began sawing off the children’s limbs piece by piece.
—Michael Wells, Kansas City Star, 18 May 2025
On the other end of the scale, lots of small, fine teeth would get clogged up trying to cut through softwood; they’re designed for sawing through steel and other metals, where the waste comes away as tiny fragments.
—Bestreviews, Chicago Tribune, 6 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for saw
Cite this Entry
“Saw.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/saw. Accessed 31 May. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share