How to Use barbed wire in a Sentence

barbed wire

noun
Definition of barbed wirenext
  • The barbed wire along the walls ripped their clothes clean off.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 16 Sep. 2021
  • British flags are duct taped to lamp posts wrapped in barbed wire.
    — New York Times, 13 July 2021
  • On the roof of one shed were three ancient coils of barbed wire.
    — Washington Post, 4 Feb. 2022
  • But first, the barbed wire fence must come down, at least on the northern end of the lake.
    — Paul Eisenberg, chicagotribune.com, 27 Mar. 2022
  • To pick up the historic route, follow the old barbed wire fence to a gate near the edge of the canyon.
    — Mare Czinar, The Arizona Republic, 8 July 2022
  • Some climbed over barbed wire and cut their way through fences.
    — Washington Post, 27 Nov. 2019
  • The walls don’t sag, and the property is not ringed by barbed wire.
    — Don Stacom, courant.com, 13 Aug. 2019
  • The rich live behind high walls topped with barbed wire.
    — Washington Post, 19 Nov. 2021
  • People can get used to anything—the sea, the southern stars, love, a bunk in a prison, the barbed wire of the camps.
    — Aaron Lake Smith, Harper's magazine, 24 June 2019
  • Above a fence topped with barbed wire, the top of a drilling rig was visible.
    — Ian James, The Arizona Republic, 5 Feb. 2022
  • Kill it with fire, salt the earth, and cover over with concrete and barbed wire.
    — Brian Moylan, Vulture, 13 Sep. 2021
  • Concrete barriers and barbed wire line the beach along the Sea of Azov.
    — New York Times, 9 Feb. 2022
  • The dusty camp was ringed with barbed wire and guarded by armed watchmen.
    — Amy Qin Ruth Fremson, New York Times, 10 Nov. 2022
  • The Saturn hit a dirt ravine and barbed wire fence then rolled, Garrow said.
    — Teri Figueroa, San Diego Union-Tribune, 16 Feb. 2022
  • There are fences, barbed wire around it, armed guards with guns for children.
    — Bill Glauber, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 10 July 2019
  • Tacks aren't as bad as other things like light tubes, barbed wire.
    — Brian Truitt, USA TODAY, 25 Aug. 2020
  • The vehicle was parked in a secured area fenced with three rows of barbed wire on top of the fence.
    — Erik S. Hanley, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 5 May 2021
  • The Smiths wrapped the next iteration with barbed wire.
    — Caitlin L. Chandler, Washington Post, 23 May 2022
  • Dave leaned against a barbed wire and chain link fence that separated the lot from the RV park.
    — Washington Post, 6 June 2020
  • It was encircled by a chain-link fence topped in barbed wire.
    — John Kelly, Washington Post, 12 June 2022
  • Police have installed a barbed wire perimeter around where the crime took place at the mall.
    — Fox News, 23 Nov. 2021
  • Video images showed crowds gathered in the dark outside the walls topped with barbed wire.
    — Compiled Democrat-Gazette Staff From Wire Reports, Arkansas Online, 21 Aug. 2021
  • Once inside this area, the thief/thieves could cut the barbed wire to access the vehicles.
    — Erik S. Hanley, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 5 May 2021
  • But even that entrance is guarded by rolls of barbed wire.
    — Paul Hoynes, cleveland.com, 9 Sep. 2019
  • To this day, a barbed wire fence at the cemetery separates the town’s white and Latino dead.
    — Los Angeles Times, 3 Feb. 2022
  • Schofield gallantly holds back a loop of barbed wire so that Blake might pass through; the thorns spring to life and pierce his hand.
    — Time, 24 Dec. 2019
  • Adam Page balked at hitting Adam Cole with a steel chair covered in barbed wire.
    — Alfred Konuwa, Forbes, 16 Apr. 2022
  • Lambert, whose first single came out in 2004, has been as durable as barbed wire.
    — Steve Chapman, chicagotribune.com, 14 June 2019
  • At one well, tangles of barbed wire fence had fallen over near a rusting pump jack that was erected in the 1980s.
    — Brian Maffly, The Salt Lake Tribune, 21 Dec. 2022
  • Fan and his brother eventually ended up in Sihanoukville in a compound surrounded by a barbed wire fence.
    — Cezary Podkul, ProPublica, 13 Sep. 2022

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'barbed wire.' 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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