Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use jab in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun, verb

Jab means a quick stab or blow; a poking or thrusting motion. Example: “Our dog was exposed to rabies, so the whole family went to a clinic to get our jabs.”

Examples of jab by meaning

nounA quick stab or blow; a poking or thrusting motion.

  • He tore in for the ball, make a running jab for it and held it.1952, Bernard Malamud, The Natural, Chapter 9

nounA short straight punch.

  • American Ward was too quick and too slick for his British rival, landing at will with razor sharp jabs and hooks and even bullying Froch at times.2011 December 18, Ben Dirs, “Carl Froch outclassed by dazzling Andre Ward”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 10 Apr 2022

nounA medical hypodermic injection (vaccination or inoculation).

  • Our dog was exposed to rabies, so the whole family went to a clinic to get our jabs.

nounA vaccination, whether or not delivered by means of a conventional injection.

  • A 'painless' sticking plaster flu jab that delivers vaccine into the skin has passed important safety tests in the first trial in people.2017 June 28, Michelle Roberts, “Painless flu jab patch for people scared of injections”, in BBC News, archived from the original on 03 Aug...

verbTo poke or thrust abruptly, or to make such a motion.

  • " as Randall felt the juicy tip of the man's tumescent cock jab against his hair-ringed, virgin asshole.1991, Etienne, “In Enemy Hands”, in Drummer, number 151, archived from the original on 06 Feb 2026, page 32

verbTo make fun of, to mock.

  • While the book's lasting appeal is remarkable, the work is worth little scholarly attention insofar as Twain is merely jabbing at a long-dead set of social practices.2007, Joel A. Johnson, Beyond Practical Virtue: A Defense of Liberal Democracy Through Literature, University of Missouri Press, →ISBN

More sentences with jab

  • The jab is most commonly used as a setup for other strikes.From the entry setup
  • The pan-Covid jab is set to enter human trials within months.2022 January 29, Jamie Walker, “‘Batman’ to the rescue with Covid immunity breakthrough”, in The Weekend Australian, Darwin, page 1. From the entry pan-Covid
  • It comes just days before Freedom Day, with ministers urging everyone to get double jabbed.2021 July 14, Ellie Cambridge, “Two-thirds of British adults now double jabbed as Boris beats Freedom Day target”, in The Sun. From the entry double-jabbed
  • Jab is looking to bring back the “old school to London’s fitness scene”.2020 March 1, David Williams, Kathleen Johnston, Olive Pometsey, “London’s best boxing gyms”, in GQ UK. From the entry zhuzh
  • The land was flat as a Hudson River pannenkoek, with this sole peak jabbing skyward.2018 April, D[avid] J[ohn] Butler, chapter 10, in Witchy Winter (Witchy Eye; 2), Riverdale, N.Y.: Baen Books, →ISBN. From the entry pannenkoek
  • So, as nets flailed and spears jabbed, she set about dismounting the riders.2018 September 11, Angus Watson, The Land You Never Leave, Orbit, →ISBN. From the entry catback
  • Lucy scowled at him, jabbing a fork in his direction and trying not to smile.2015, Kerry Wilkinson, Down Among the Dead Men, page 315. From the entry fally-aparty
  • But every rose has its thorn, and the sharpest was yet to jab us.2014, Sophia Loren, Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow: My Life, →ISBN, page 32. From the entry every rose has its thorn
  • He showed her how to throw punches: hooks, jabs, head-shots, gut-shots.2013, Duncan Staff, The Lost Boy: The Definitive Story of the Moors Murders, →ISBN, page 71. From the entry gut-shot
  • But having tasted blood on the issue, the Obama campaign kept jabbing away.2012 July 14, Matt Williams, Ewen MacAskill, “Obama repeats attack on Romney as 'pioneer of outsourcing'”, in The Guardian, →ISSN…. From the entry taste blood
  • McAfferty giggled, then stepped back and shadowboxed, jabbing the air with his little fists.2009, Jim Lynch, Border Songs. From the entry shadowbox
  • Cody hooked off his jab and tagged Ray with a smart left.2007, Stephen H. Foreman, Toehold, page 246. From the entry hook off
  • The NHS is naturally pro-immunisation, reassuring parents that their babies can easily cope with these jabs.2005 August 24, Siobhan O'Neill, The Guardian. From the entry parent
  • Images of devils, jab molasie, moko jumbies and bats are the figures that inhabit the Caribbean night.1994, Mary L. Gill, Presence, Identity and Meaning in the Trinidad Carnival: An Ethnography of Schooling and Festival (unpublished Ph.D.…. From the entry jab molassie
  • The casual, everyday racing expression jabbed in my mind like a needle.1962, Dick Francis, chapter 4, in Dead Cert, published 2004, page 46. From the entry dead cert
  • His left jab pecked at McTigue's face, and at infighting he matched the champion on even terms.1955 March 28, Charles Lesemann, “Ruckus in Georgia”, in Sports Illustrated. From the entry infighting
  • Have the boys box, one jabbing and the other practicing the methods of boxing a jabber.1939, Edwin L. Haislet, Boxing in Education, page 160. From the entry jabber
  • A fake pass contributed five more, and ram-jams at center and savage jabs at tackle netted ten.1902, The Epworth Herald - Volume 13, page 535. From the entry ram-jam
  • First, those of us who get the jab should not be held hostage by those who refuse it.2021 May 23, Peter FitzSimons, “I’ve got a plan to get all the anti-jabbers to get their shots”, in The Sydney Morning Herald. From the entry anti-jabber
  • Whether Leo Blair is jabbed or unjabbed matters less than his father's frantic attempts to avoid telling us which.2018, Roger Neighbour, I'm Too Hot Now: Themes and Variations from General Practice. From the entry unjabbed
  • Their thicknesses vary wildly; splotches hover over skewjawed jabs.2016, Barbara Hurd, Listening to the Savage: River Notes and Half-heard Melodies, page 29. From the entry skewjawed
  • Everyone who jabs at alt.atheists is a Christian.2014 June 17, jackpi...@gmail.com, “How many alt.atheists does ot take to screw in a lightbulb?”, in alt.atheism (Usenet), retrieved 07…. From the entry alt.atheist
  • The sheriff jabbed his thumb at his chest.2013, J B Bergstad, Hyde's Corner - Book II - In The Name of Vengeance, →ISBN. From the entry law
  • Tony stumbled a little and when he found his balance, he knuckled up and sent a jab toward Will's neck.2012, Pink Maxwell, A Scorpion's Sting, page 209. From the entry knuckle up
  • Hericane responds by calmly snapping the monkey's right arm at the elbow with a jab of her finger.2012, Robert T. Jeschonek, Forced Betrayal. From the entry chimpette
  • The Prime Minister jabbed his cigar at Sir Darius.2009, Michael Pryor, Blaze of Glory, →ISBN, page 98. From the entry under one's hat
  • "What kind of Conch Queen of Doom are you?" he griped, angrily jabbing at Sabrina with his trident.1999, Bobbi J. G. Weiss, David Cody Weiss, Age of Aquariums, Archway Paperback, →ISBN, page 133. From the entry merguard
  • That sky was not purple, nor blue, but nielle, blackness beyond black, with stars that jabbed like knives of light.1999, L.E. Modesitt, Jr., Gravity Dreams, page 5. From the entry nielle
  • He knocked out three or four of Marvin’s teeth, jabbing around, trying to plumber up that rock of cocaine.1997, James A. Hotz, O. Victor Miller, chapter 2, in Where Remedies Lie, Leesburg, Ga.: Caduceus Press, →ISBN, page 10. From the entry plumber up
  • The sudden head-down butt jabbed into someone’s face, is a highly effective way of putting a stop to his yack.1983, Nicolas Freeling, The Back of the North Wind, →ISBN. From the entry yak
  • Fox jabbed the air with nicotined finger.1957, Sydney J. Bounds, The Robot Brains, London: Digit Books, page 113. From the entry nicotined
  • For ten minutes he waited there, jabbed at by his nerves, with every minute mounting up a dead weight of suspense.1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 219. From the entry dead weight
  • Said it wasn’t until someone had jabbed him in the nose or ‘chinned’ him that he forgot to be scared.1915, Ralph Henry Barbour, chapter 14, in Left Tackle Thayer, New York: Dodd, Mead, pages 183–184. From the entry chin
  • Self-isolation will also be removed for arrivals from Amber list countries from July 19, if they have been double jabbed within a UK vaccine programme.2021 July 13, Elsa Maishman, “Covid Scotland: Self-isolation requirement to be scrapped for double jabbed from August 9”, in The Scotsman. From the entry double-jabbed

Meaning of jab

  1. noun A quick stab or blow; a poking or thrusting motion.
  2. noun A short straight punch.
  3. noun A medical hypodermic injection (vaccination or inoculation).

Full definition of jab

Questions about jab in a sentence

How do you use jab in a sentence?
Jab is used as a noun and verb. For example: “Our dog was exposed to rabies, so the whole family went to a clinic to get our jabs.”
What is a short sentence with jab?
“Fox jabbed the air with nicotined finger.”
What does jab mean?
Jab means a quick stab or blow; a poking or thrusting motion.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: jab (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 jab in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/jab. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.