How to Use wield in a Sentence

wield

verb
Definition of wieldnext
Synonyms for wieldnext
  • The man was wielding a gun.
  • Can he wield a hammer?
  • He wields a great deal of influence over his students.
  • The United States can—and must—wield its power for good.
    — George Packer, The Atlantic, 21 Nov. 2022
  • Many gangs wield enough power to bring the country to its knees.
    — New York Times, 21 Nov. 2021
  • Here, three ways to wield it, inspired by the spring runways.
    — Fiorella Valdesolo, WSJ, 18 Mar. 2022
  • One man was seen on video wielding a folding chair to use against the boaters.
    — Remy Tumin, BostonGlobe.com, 10 Aug. 2023
  • Two of them wield sticks and the other, the smallest, hefts an immense tree branch.
    — Peter Schjeldahl, The New Yorker, 26 July 2021
  • To wield the gavel was his life’s whole grail and summit.
    — James Parker, The Atlantic, 9 Jan. 2023
  • The two suspects got out of the car, each wielding firearms, and approached the victims.
    — Nollyanne Delacruz, The Mercury News, 1 Nov. 2024
  • And now Google is trying to wield EU law against Apple.
    — David Meyer, Fortune Europe, 8 Nov. 2023
  • The scythe is now being wielded among the playing squad.
    — Mark Critchley, The Athletic, 22 Jan. 2025
  • In the video, the rapper dances with both the devil and a Grim Reaper-esque Death figure, who wields a scythe.
    — Mitchell Peters, Billboard, 26 Aug. 2023
  • Feng wields the Jin Gu Bang, a legendary staff made of gold and iron, kills demons and gods alike, and often just can’t stop.
    — Yue Wang, Forbes, 13 Sep. 2024
  • Once again the ostensible premise is power — its use, abuse and the fight over who gets to wield it.
    — Bill Goodykoontz, The Arizona Republic, 22 Mar. 2023
  • At 81, Nancy Pelosi is the oldest to wield the House speaker's gavel.
    — John Harwood, CNN, 26 Sep. 2021
  • Waititi has earned the right to wield the series hammer.
    — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 5 July 2022
  • In naked-mole-rat societies, the royals do not wield scepters or don crowns.
    — Katherine J. Wu, The Atlantic, 5 Apr. 2022
  • There’s the one who drinks too much, the one who makes off-color jokes, the ones who wield their religion like a badge of honor.
    — Matthew J. Palm, orlandosentinel.com, 1 Dec. 2021
  • So there would still be power to wield, even in the minority.
    — Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 3 Nov. 2022
  • These ideas aren’t just reminders of the plot but tools to wield in the game and thematic anchors to mull over while playing it.
    — Lewis Gordon, The Verge, 7 Oct. 2024
  • The musicians wear porkpie hats; the writers wield fountain pens; Aaron Sorkin walks at length and talks at greater length.
    — Tad Friend, The New Yorker, 18 Oct. 2021
  • No shots have been fired, and Connell said officers have not seen the man wielding a weapon.
    — Salvador Hernandez, Los Angeles Times, 11 July 2023
  • Maduro has threatened to wield his mustache against adversaries in the past.
    — Washington Post, 12 Dec. 2021
  • The shuttle's robotic can wield the device to scan the underside of the orbiter for damage.
    — Alex Roland and Ken Bowersox, Popular Mechanics, 8 July 2021
  • Second, the person who would have been wielding the bat likely would have dropped it, and there was no such weapon found at the scene.
    — Audrey Conklin, Fox News, 1 Dec. 2023
  • Here at Bon Appétit, many staffers wield scissors for both kitchen prep work and serving.
    — Wilder Davies, Bon Appétit, 10 July 2024
  • Each of the leaders of these two Americas wields power in his own way.
    — Peter Baker, New York Times, 25 Jan. 2024
  • While posing as a child, the caller told police that their father was armed with a handgun and was wielding it inside their home, according to prosecutors.
    — Julia Marnin, Sacramento Bee, 24 Jan. 2025
  • Encounters in the more wince-and-yell category generally involve run-ins with caterpillars that wield larger and tougher venom-injecting spines.
    — Ivan Amato, Scientific American, 30 Jan. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'wield.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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