How to use pounce in a sentence

27 example sentences · noun, verb

Pounce means a type of fine powder, as of sandarac, or cuttlefish bone, sprinkled over wet ink to dry the ink after writing or on rough paper to smooth the writing surface. Example: “The kitten pounced at the ball I threw to it.”

Examples of pounce by meaning

nounA type of fine powder, as of sandarac, or cuttlefish bone, sprinkled over wet ink to dry the ink after writing or on...

At the Thorn, or at a meagre kitchen table, or even on the carpenter’s workbench, he spreads open the portfolio, lights a candle stub, slices a fresh quill, and arranges pounce pot and ink well.2021, A. K. Blakemore, The Manningtree Witches, Granta Books, page 120

verbTo sprinkle or rub with pounce powder.

to pounce paper, or a pattern

nounA sudden leaping attack.

Again the cat jolted the bed with a pounce.1999, Niki Anderson, Inspurrrational Stories for Cat Lovers

verbTo leap into the air intending to seize someone or something.

The kitten pounced at the ball I threw to it.
She pounced on the young man, because she loved him and wanted him for herself.

verbTo attack suddenly by leaping.

I was awakened from a dead sleep by my child pouncing on top of me from out of nowhere.
The only thing you can do with virgins like that is pounce!1972, Jay Presson Allen, Cabaret, spoken by Sally Bowles (Liza Minnelli)

verbTo eagerly seize an opportunity.

I pounced on the chance to get promoted.
While he was out of town on vacation, I pounced, leaking the photos.
Why would I talk to the press and give them a chance to pounce on me?

More sentences with pounce

Beyoncé’s fans, known as the BeyHive, pounced on Hardwick for the incident known as “Kissgate.”2019 May 10, A.R. Shaw, “Omari Hardwick finally gets chance to respond”, in Rolling Out, archived from the original on 22 Oct 2020. From the entry Kissgate
Pictures of celebrities and others captured in awkward freeze-framed expressions got the Ermahgerd treatment too—practicing memesmiths pouncing.2015 October 15, Darryn King, “Ermahgerddon: The Untold Story of the Ermahgerd Girl”, in Vanity Fair. From the entry memesmith
Angus carefully laid his baseball bat to one side, waiting for the right moment to pounce, then—Flumpf!2014 May 6, Anne Cameron, “A Christmas Podding”, in The Storm Tower Thief (The Lightning Catcher; 2), New York, N.Y.: Greenwillow Books…. From the entry flumpf
And Cabaye was waiting to pounce on the rebound with a close range header.2012 April 21, Jonathan Jurejko, “Newcastle 3-0 Stoke”, in BBC Sport. From the entry marker
SOTS scrum-half Jood pounced and began his pass, but swift as he was, Thorn Thompson was swifter.2004, Pat Stevens, Politics Is the Greatest Game: A Johannesburg Liberal Lampoon, →ISBN. From the entry eighthman
Any fresh idea is immediately pounced on and mauled to death.1952, Harold Innis, The Strategy of Culture, University of Toronto Press, Footnote 86. From the entry coiner
My eyes glisten unseemlily I know, and I grab and pounce with disgusting greed.1931, Virginia Woolf, The London scene. From the entry unseemlily
CK Asset will pounce when it spots rivals in distress.2023 August 13, Shuli Ren, “‘Superman’ Tests Hong Kong’s Stressed Property Market”, in The Washington Post, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from…. From the entry Ap Lei Chau
If he said more, he’d pounce on her.2022, Kate Rudolph, chapter 11, in Cipher: Dragon Brides, Intergalactic Dating Agency Book 4, Celestial Heart Press, →ISBN. From the entry cock ache
Baz pounced quickly, like a chicken on a June bug.2014, Allan Lawrence, Olympus and Beyond, page 340. From the entry like a chicken on a June bug
On the way back Boyles led him down a lampless lane, and sure enough, a pair of dacoits pounced on them.1982, TC Boyle, Water Music, Penguin, published 2006, page 49. From the entry dacoit
Then one afternoon he pounced on me and before one could say Jack Robinson his hand was in my shirt.1964, Robin Douglas-Home, chapter 12, in Hot for Certainties, London: Longmans, →OCLC, page 135. From the entry jimminy cricket
They ranged along abreast of the Snark on either side, pouncing upon the flying-fish her forefoot scared up.1913, Jack London, The Cruise of the "Snark", published 2008, unnumbered page. From the entry scare up
Ripples in the water betray the presence of the fish waiting for a chance to pounce on the insects skirting over the water.2009, Helen Oon, “New Territories”, in Hong Kong (Globetrotters Travel Guide), New Holland Publishers, →ISBN, page 80. From the entry ripple
That’s why the bloggerati pounced gleefully last week on the news that one of their own had fallen in love with a commoner, er, commenter.2009 April 5, Jan Hoffman, “Commoner Captures Princess, Blog Version”, in New York Times. From the entry bloggerati
When books were given me, I fell upon them as a glutton pounces on his meat after a period of enforced starvation.1912, Mary Antin, The Promised Land. From the entry stargaze
Saka's cross unlocked a well-organised Ukraine defence for Kane to pounce and set England on their way before producing a superb piece of individual skill to effectively end the contest.2023 March 26, Phil McNulty, “England 2-0 Ukraine”, in BBC Sport. From the entry unlock

Meaning of pounce

noun A type of fine powder, as of sandarac, or cuttlefish bone, sprinkled over wet ink to dry the ink after writing or on rough paper to smooth the writing surface.
noun Charcoal dust, or some other coloured powder for making patterns through perforated designs, used by embroiderers, lacemakers, etc.
verb To sprinkle or rub with pounce powder.

Full definition of pounce

Questions about pounce in a sentence

How do you use pounce in a sentence?: Pounce is used as a noun and verb. For example: “The kitten pounced at the ball I threw to it.”
What is a short sentence with pounce?: “to pounce paper, or a pattern”
What does pounce mean?: Pounce means a type of fine powder, as of sandarac, or cuttlefish bone, sprinkled over wet ink to dry the ink after writing or on rough paper to smooth the writing surface.

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