knock·out
ˈnäk-ˌau̇t 
1
a
: the act of knocking out : the condition of being knocked out
b(1)
: the termination of a boxing match when one boxer has been knocked down and is unable to rise and resume boxing within a specified time
(2)
c
: a blow that knocks out an opponent
2
: a sensationally striking, appealing, or attractive person or thing
1
: causing a knockout
a knockout blow
2
: sensationally striking, appealing, or attractive
a knockout dress
3
: having all or part of a gene eliminated or inactivated by genetic engineering
knockout mice predisposed to diabetes mellitus
knocked out; knocking out; knocks out
1
: to produce roughly or hastily
2
a(1)
: to defeat (a boxing opponent) by a knockout
(2)
: to make unconscious
the drug knocked him out
b
: to make inoperative or useless
electricity was knocked out by the storm
c
: to get rid of : eliminate
knocked out illegal gambling
3
: to tire out : exhaust
knocked themselves out with work
4
: to cause (an opposing pitcher) to be removed from a baseball game by a batting rally
Synonyms
Noun
- babe [slang]
- beauty
- beauty queen
- cookie
- cooky
- cutie
- cutey
- dolly bird [British]
- enchantress
- eyeful
- fox
- goddess
- honey
- queen
- stunner
Adjective
- aesthetic
- esthetic
- aesthetical
- esthetical
- attractive
- beauteous
- beautiful
- bonny [chiefly British]
- bonnie
- comely
- cute
- drop-dead
- fair
- fetching
- good
- good-looking
- goodly
- gorgeous
- handsome
- likely
- lovely
- lovesome
- pretty
- ravishing
- seemly
- sightly
- stunning
- taking
- well-favored
Verb
Examples of knockout in a Sentence
Noun
He won the match by a knockout.
He scored a knockout in the fourth round.
She's a real knockout in that dress.
Adjective
The Wimbledon tennis tournament is a knockout competition.
a knockout sports car that's the talk of the neighborhood
Verb
the entire staff knocked itself out getting the project finished on time
Recent Examples on the Web
Allen Farmelo, Robb Report, 9 Apr. 2024
Overall Experience Penguin’s CBD cream is an overall knockout.
—Amber Smith, Discover Magazine, 3 Apr. 2024
Tyson said of Paul, who has a 9-1 record with six knockouts.
—Reuters, CNN, 2 Apr. 2024
Before his loss to Mendoza, Fundora (20-1-1, 13 KOs) had amassed some solid victories, including triumphs against Ocampo (Fundora won by unanimous decision compared to Tszyu’s first-round knockout vs. Ocampo) and Erickson Lubin.
—Josh Katzowitz, Forbes, 30 Mar. 2024
Tyson went 50-6-2 throughout his career from 1985-2005, winning 44 of his matches via knockout.
—Sean Neumann, Peoplemag, 7 Mar. 2024
Paul has racked up a pro record of 9 wins, 1 loss, with 6 knockouts since his debut in January 2020.
—Joe Otterson, Variety, 7 Mar. 2024
The plot, about a tourist taking in the city between flights, is not spectacular, but the extensive black-and-white views of how things looked here 60 years ago are a knockout.
—Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times, 3 Apr. 2024
Yes, many of the games lack any real sense of jeopardy, seeing as 16 of the teams will make it to the knockout rounds anyway.
—Rory Smith, New York Times, 29 Mar. 2024
Leo Schwartz, Fortune Crypto, 3 Feb. 2023
Addison Rae added to the ever-growing list of knockout vintage Y2K, donning a wrap skirt from Roberto Cavalli’s spring 2000 collection.
—André-Naquian Wheeler, Vogue, 28 Jan. 2023
Every previous fight was decided by knockout, technical knockout or unanimous decision.
—Drake Bentley, Journal Sentinel, 24 Jan. 2023
Marchand’s goal on the advantage, the knockout punch for the Fish Sticks, came at 5:03 of the third.
—Kevin Paul Dupont, BostonGlobe.com, 18 Jan. 2023
Ferreira ended up starting the knockout round match against the Netherlands, an eventual 3-1 defeat for the U.S., but his effect on the game was minimal and he was subbed off to start the second half.
—Dallas News, 2 Jan. 2023
Then came the knockout punch, delivered by Samuel, who took a short pass 74 yards to the house for a 38-17 lead that placed the game in the blowout category.
—Chris Bumbaca, USA TODAY, 15 Jan. 2023
Whereas some of these stronger medicines are like a knockout punch, think of CBD as a lullaby that soothes you into sleep and doesn’t just knock you out.
—Dallas News, 21 Oct. 2022
However, defeats to Portugal (3-2) and Uruguay (2-0) meant Ghana failed to progress to the knockout stage.
—Robert Kidd, Forbes, 20 Dec. 2022
Dalia Faheid, CNN, 3 Apr. 2024
The first is on how the cost of information has collapsed relatively faster than a truss bridge with its supports knocked out.
—Edward Lotterman, Twin Cities, 31 Mar. 2024
Frequently idled as their operators struggled to stay in control, the robots rolled into battle in erratic fits and starts—and got knocked out by enemy fire.
—David Axe, Forbes, 29 Mar. 2024
But there are days where as soon as my head hits the pillow, I’m knocked out.
—Victoria Uwumarogie, Essence, 28 Mar. 2024
Before a 12-person federal jury reached their unanimous not guilty verdicts, Kry’s lawyers were successful at knocking out one additional smuggling count while prosecutors Thomas Watts-FitzGerald and Emily Stone dropped five others in the trial before U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams.
—Jay Weaver, Miami Herald, 25 Mar. 2024
Over 150 missiles and drones were involved in the bombardment, striking targets across the Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian air force, knocking out power to swathes of the country and badly damaging its largest hydroelectric power station.
—Patrick Reevell, ABC News, 22 Mar. 2024
Milk of magnesia is a liquid antacid commonly used to treat heartburn and indigestion, but Dr. Palomo says applying a little bit on your sore can knock out some of that pain.
—Jenna Ryu, SELF, 18 Mar. 2024
For the men's game, at least one 1-seed has been knocked out before the Elite Eight in all but one of the last 14 years.
—Becky Sullivan, NPR, 23 Mar. 2024
Noun
The color combination is a knockout, and a nice change from seeing green dials on only steel or white gold watches.
—Allen Farmelo, Robb Report, 9 Apr. 2024
Overall Experience Penguin’s CBD cream is an overall knockout.
—Amber Smith, Discover Magazine, 3 Apr. 2024
Tyson said of Paul, who has a 9-1 record with six knockouts.
—Reuters, CNN, 2 Apr. 2024
Before his loss to Mendoza, Fundora (20-1-1, 13 KOs) had amassed some solid victories, including triumphs against Ocampo (Fundora won by unanimous decision compared to Tszyu’s first-round knockout vs. Ocampo) and Erickson Lubin.
—Josh Katzowitz, Forbes, 30 Mar. 2024
Tyson went 50-6-2 throughout his career from 1985-2005, winning 44 of his matches via knockout.
—Sean Neumann, Peoplemag, 7 Mar. 2024
Paul has racked up a pro record of 9 wins, 1 loss, with 6 knockouts since his debut in January 2020.
—Joe Otterson, Variety, 7 Mar. 2024
The plot, about a tourist taking in the city between flights, is not spectacular, but the extensive black-and-white views of how things looked here 60 years ago are a knockout.
—Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times, 3 Apr. 2024
Yes, many of the games lack any real sense of jeopardy, seeing as 16 of the teams will make it to the knockout rounds anyway.
—Rory Smith, New York Times, 29 Mar. 2024
Adjective
The knockout blow to the fighter, as Findeisen gleefully pointed out, was the name of the fake NFT project, SourzNFT Candies are Moundbound.
—Leo Schwartz, Fortune Crypto, 3 Feb. 2023
Addison Rae added to the ever-growing list of knockout vintage Y2K, donning a wrap skirt from Roberto Cavalli’s spring 2000 collection.
—André-Naquian Wheeler, Vogue, 28 Jan. 2023
Every previous fight was decided by knockout, technical knockout or unanimous decision.
—Drake Bentley, Journal Sentinel, 24 Jan. 2023
Marchand’s goal on the advantage, the knockout punch for the Fish Sticks, came at 5:03 of the third.
—Kevin Paul Dupont, BostonGlobe.com, 18 Jan. 2023
Ferreira ended up starting the knockout round match against the Netherlands, an eventual 3-1 defeat for the U.S., but his effect on the game was minimal and he was subbed off to start the second half.
—Dallas News, 2 Jan. 2023
Then came the knockout punch, delivered by Samuel, who took a short pass 74 yards to the house for a 38-17 lead that placed the game in the blowout category.
—Chris Bumbaca, USA TODAY, 15 Jan. 2023
Whereas some of these stronger medicines are like a knockout punch, think of CBD as a lullaby that soothes you into sleep and doesn’t just knock you out.
—Dallas News, 21 Oct. 2022
However, defeats to Portugal (3-2) and Uruguay (2-0) meant Ghana failed to progress to the knockout stage.
—Robert Kidd, Forbes, 20 Dec. 2022
Verb
The conditions knocked out power to more than 100,000 customers in the two states as of Wednesday morning, according to poweroutage.us.
—Dalia Faheid, CNN, 3 Apr. 2024
The first is on how the cost of information has collapsed relatively faster than a truss bridge with its supports knocked out.
—Edward Lotterman, Twin Cities, 31 Mar. 2024
Frequently idled as their operators struggled to stay in control, the robots rolled into battle in erratic fits and starts—and got knocked out by enemy fire.
—David Axe, Forbes, 29 Mar. 2024
But there are days where as soon as my head hits the pillow, I’m knocked out.
—Victoria Uwumarogie, Essence, 28 Mar. 2024
Before a 12-person federal jury reached their unanimous not guilty verdicts, Kry’s lawyers were successful at knocking out one additional smuggling count while prosecutors Thomas Watts-FitzGerald and Emily Stone dropped five others in the trial before U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams.
—Jay Weaver, Miami Herald, 25 Mar. 2024
Over 150 missiles and drones were involved in the bombardment, striking targets across the Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian air force, knocking out power to swathes of the country and badly damaging its largest hydroelectric power station.
—Patrick Reevell, ABC News, 22 Mar. 2024
Milk of magnesia is a liquid antacid commonly used to treat heartburn and indigestion, but Dr. Palomo says applying a little bit on your sore can knock out some of that pain.
—Jenna Ryu, SELF, 18 Mar. 2024
For the men's game, at least one 1-seed has been knocked out before the Elite Eight in all but one of the last 14 years.
—Becky Sullivan, NPR, 23 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'knockout.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near knockout
Cite this Entry
“Knockout.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/knockout. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
knockout
1 of 2 noun
knock·out
ˈnäk-ˌau̇t
1
: the act of knocking out : the condition of being knocked out
2
: something or someone very striking or attractive
knockout
adjective
knock out
2 of 2 verbˈnäk-ˈau̇t,
näk-ˈau̇t
: to make unconscious
Medical Definition
knockout
adjective
knock·out
ˈnäk-ˌau̇t
: having all or part of a gene eliminated or inactivated by genetic engineering
knockout mice predisposed to diabetes mellitus serve as animal models in the study of human diabetes
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