How to use barb in a sentence

15 example sentences · noun, verb

Barb means the point that stands backward in an arrow, fishhook, etc., to prevent it from being easily extracted. Hence: Anything which stands out with a sharp point obliquely or crosswise to something else. Example: “And she was the only girl in class who did not, sometime through the lesson, get a barb of sarcasm from Miss Brownell, though she made as many mistakes as the rest of them.”

Examples of barb by meaning

nounA hurtful or disparaging remark.

to trade barbs
And she was the only girl in class who did not, sometime through the lesson, get a barb of sarcasm from Miss Brownell, though she made as many mistakes as the rest of them.1923, Lucy Maud Montgomery, “Chapter 8”, in Emily of New Moon
Or if you were a figment of my imagination.” The barb hurt, but she didn't blame him.2018, Elle Wright, Wherever You Are (The Jacksons of Ann Arbor), HarperCollins, →ISBN

verbTo furnish with barbs, or with that which will hold or hurt like barbs, as an arrow, fishhook, spear, etc.

Her coat was a tangled mass, barbed with last year's burs, matted disgustingly with cow dung.1944, Emily Carr, “Meg the Worker”, in The House of All Sorts

More sentences with barb

When barbed and seeded proper the barbs or leaves are green and the seeds yellow.1968, Charles MacKinnon of Dunakin, The Observer's Book of Heraldry, pages 72–73. From the entry seeded
They do not appreciate human arrogance and hence the Bolis of Puri are slangful, loud and unabated barbs at human follies.2021 September 3, Charudutta Panigrahi, “The Intimacy Of Slangs”, in Odisha News, archived from the original on 19 Mar 2025. From the entry slangful
I wanted more time for the two together, especially more witty barbs, since I revel in an enemies-to-friends-to-lovers trope.2020 January 29, Nathalie Graham, “Sweet As Vanilla Ice Cream”, in The Stranger, page 29. From the entry enemies-to-friends-to-lovers
Agnes’s permadrunk sister, Claire, arrives, trailing barbs.2014 November 20, Jesse Green, “Theater Review: A Delicate Balance, Still Necessary and Brilliant”, in Vulture. From the entry permadrunk
Otherwise the barbs and seeds must have their tincture stated.1968, Charles MacKinnon of Dunakin, The Observer's Book of Heraldry, pages 72–73. From the entry seeded
Barb Petty (Maryann Urbano): For what?2017, Bill Dubuque and Mark Williams, 19:27 from the start, in Ozark, season 1, episode 8. From the entry cockamamy
Back in the spoilsome comforts of Kodiak and about to fly south again, I trade friendly barbs with my skipper over the seven-day St.1987, National Fisherman, volume 68. From the entry spoilsome
Barb finally said, “Did he ever tell you that he thought you and I would make a better twosome, lovewise, than he and I?”1984, Dan Jenkins, Semi-tough, New York: Atheneum, page 250. From the entry lovewise
Don't Look Up aims too high for its scattershot barbs to consistently land, but Adam McKay's star-studded satire hits its target of collective denial square on.2021, Critics Consensus, Don't Look Up. From the entry scattershot
The benzos, it turns out, are just as highly addicting as the barbs, but they do have a much lower potential to cause death by overdose.1998, Jerry Dorsman, How to Quit Drugs for Good, New York, NY: Three Rivers Press, →ISBN, page 50. From the entry benzo
Thus, the four distinct feather parts that have been compared as to amino acid content to note whether or not the composition is uniform are rachis, barbs, calamus and medulla.1956, Advisory Board on Quartermaster Research and Development, The Utilization of Chicken Feathers as Filling Materials, page 9. From the entry calamus

Meaning of barb

noun The point that stands backward in an arrow, fishhook, etc., to prevent it from being easily extracted. Hence: Anything which stands out with a sharp point obliquely or crosswise to something else.
noun A hurtful or disparaging remark.
noun A beard, or that which resembles it, or grows in the place of it.

Full definition of barb

Questions about barb in a sentence

How do you use barb in a sentence?: Barb is used as a noun and verb. For example: “And she was the only girl in class who did not, sometime through the lesson, get a barb of sarcasm from Miss Brownell, though she made as many mistakes as the rest of them.”
What is a short sentence with barb?: “to trade barbs”
What does barb mean?: Barb means the point that stands backward in an arrow, fishhook, etc., to prevent it from being easily extracted. Hence: Anything which stands out with a sharp point obliquely or crosswise to something else.

Adapted from Wiktionary: barb (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use barb in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/barb. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.