Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use fist in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun, verb

Fist means a hand with the fingers clenched or curled inward. Example: “The boxer's fists rained down on his opponent in the last round.”

Examples of fist by meaning

nounA hand with the fingers clenched or curled inward.

  • The boxer's fists rained down on his opponent in the last round.

nounAn attempt at something.

  • It has, however, been long enough to ascertain that Manuel Pellegrini’s team are going to make a much better fist of it this time.2015 August 16, Daniel Taylor, The Guardian
  • With the rise of cognitive neuroscience, the time may be coming when we can make a reasonable fist of mapping down from an understanding of the functional architecture of the mind to the structural architecture of the brain.2005, Darryl N. Davis, Visions of Mind: Architectures for Cognition and Affect, page 144

verbTo close (the hand) into a fist.

  • He noticed Ada's trick of hiding her fingernails by fisting her hand or stretching it with the palm turned upward when helping herself to a biscuit.1969, Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor, Penguin, published 2011, page 29

More sentences with fist

  • I used a whole series of fist and foot jams in that crack.From the entry jam
  • Bob chambered his fist for a blow, but Sheila struck first.From the entry chamber
  • I pumped my fist with joy when I won the race.From the entry pump
  • I held my fist up, and he gave me a bump before leaving.From the entry bump
  • When approached by a stranger, Jared clenched his fists in an instinctive manner.From the entry instinctive
  • He had a go at the restaurant business and made a fairly decent fist of it.From the entry make a fist of
  • The fist power-up gives you a more powerful punch.From the entry power-up
  • The powerful blow of his opponent's fist staggered the boxer.From the entry stagger
  • His fist caught a glancing blow to my jaw.From the entry glancing
  • The baby stopped crying and unclenched her fists.From the entry unclench
  • Joseph Stalin ruled the Soviet Union with an iron fist.From the entry iron fist
  • He balled up his fists, ready to fight.From the entry ball up
  • Negotiate with an iron fist inside a velvet glove.From the entry velvet glove
  • He clenched his fist in anger.From the entry clench
  • As soon as she heard that her father had died, she went into a rage and beat the wall with her fists until her knuckles bled.From the entry beat
  • England made metres hand over fist and, that intensity, combined with set-piece dominance, made a breakthrough inevitable.2025 August 22, Mike Henson, “England open World Cup with 11-try win over USA”, in BBC Sport. From the entry hand over fist
  • Is it a thumb-up, a thumb-down, or is your fist still hovering uncertainly in the air?2025 February 1, James Horncastle, “The revamped Champions League: A success or a Super League devoid of jeopardy?”, in The Athletic, New…. From the entry thumb-up
  • When children don’t have the words to express their thoughts, they raise their fists.2021 October 1, A Falun Dafa practitioner in France, “Using Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance to Guide My Young Students”, in Minghui. From the entry crucial
  • He cuddle buddied him and put him to sleep with his pillow fists as wilder put it.2020 February 23, @roddersukdg, Twitter (post). From the entry cuddle buddy
  • Everyone now had either a rapier, a sword, or a katzbalger in his fist.2020, Tina Berg, The Devil Nun, Babelcube Inc., →ISBN. From the entry katzbalger
  • There was a resounding smacking noise and Georgy was sure Philip had just eaten a fist.2018, Daniel Tomazic, Of Bullies and Men: Young Adult Fiction, →ISBN, page 18. From the entry eat
  • Numbskull!' he shouted, straddling her midriff and pummelling her face and chest with his fists.2017, Minette Walters, The Last Hours, →ISBN, page 357. From the entry wantwit
  • Chest tight, her one hand clenched into a rock hard fist, Gliss stared at the remains.2017, David Burton, Blood on the Bayou, By Light Unseen Media. From the entry Captain Hook
  • Instead she would thump her fist to defend Irish people from those speaking out against them.2016 November 20, Katie Walsh, “Why are Irish people so precious about Irishness?”, in The Irish Times, Dublin: Irish Times Trust, →ISSN…. From the entry precious
  • Gestures ranged from pursed lips to clenched fists and finger pointing.2016 February 7, Nick Clark, “Manual Labours: The Complaining Body: Exhibition explores the fine arts of moaning and listening”, in The…. From the entry finger pointing
  • 'Cestus': This includes all sorts of fist wrappings and brass knuckle weapon types.2011, James Edward Raggi, IV, Lamentations of the Flame Princess: Weird Fantasy Role-Playing (Grindhouse Edition): Rules Book, →ISBN, page…. From the entry cestus
  • Use a closed fist or assume the Dracula sneeze pose to temper germ transmission.2011, Phineas Mollod, Jason Tesauro, The Modern Gentleman, 2nd Edition: A Guide to Essential Manners, Savvy, and Vice, Ten Speed Press…. From the entry Dracula sneeze
  • She spoke the muffled words into her pillow as she hit her fist upon the bed.2009, Stephen A. Phillips, “The Visa”, in From Moscow with Love, Pittsburgh, Pa.: Dorrance Publishing Co., →ISBN, page 57. From the entry net
  • McAfferty giggled, then stepped back and shadowboxed, jabbing the air with his little fists.2009, Jim Lynch, Border Songs. From the entry shadowbox
  • I'm on my feet and my fist is roundhousing and I feel flesh.2009, Diane Tullson, Riley Park, page 18. From the entry roundhouse
  • Although, if Dave added some lyrics about fisting and donkeypunches, I'd gladly give this song a 9.2009 April 16, JamSession v2.0, “Rate "Spaceman" - Page 3 - These Days Continue”, in Thesedayscontinue.org. From the entry donkeypunches
  • "Not like that," Snap growled, raising her four fists, swishing her thagomizer around threateningly.2008 September 17, L. E. Simmons, The Lady of Gold (SnapDragon Adventures 1), 1st edition, Lulu.com, →ISBN, →LCCN, page 135. From the entry thagomizer
  • He was walking briskly toward the dormitorium, pounding his fist into his palm.2008, Alan Gordon, The Moneylender of Toulouse (A Fools’ Guild Mystery; 7), New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Minotaur, →ISBN, pages 115, 146…. From the entry dormitorium
  • A fist bump can express emotions from anger and fear to excitement and joy.2008 June 5, M.J. Stephey, “A Brief History of the Fist Bump”, in Time, archived from the original on 08 Jul 2008. From the entry fist bump
  • In any other context, a clenched fist would be perceived as hostile.2008 June 5, M.J. Stephey, “A Brief History of the Fist Bump”, in Time, archived from the original on 08 Jul 2008. From the entry fist bump
  • Ze takes my right hand in hirs and folds it into a fist.2006 March 22, Leslie Feinberg, Drag King Dreams, New York: Carroll & Graf, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OL, LCC PS3556.E427 D73 2006, page 205. From the entry ze

Meaning of fist

  1. noun A hand with the fingers clenched or curled inward.
  2. noun Synonym of manicule.
  3. noun The characteristic signaling rhythm of an individual telegraph or CW operator when sending Morse code.

Full definition of fist

Questions about fist in a sentence

How do you use fist in a sentence?
Fist is used as a noun and verb. For example: “The boxer's fists rained down on his opponent in the last round.”
What is a short sentence with fist?
“He clenched his fist in anger.”
What does fist mean?
Fist means a hand with the fingers clenched or curled inward.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: fist (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.

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