WORD LISTS

Super Bowl Blowout: Epic Vocab for the Big Game

Tue Jan 24 15:43:35 EST 2017
By Vocabulary.com (NY)Visual Thesaurus Moderator
Super Bowls don't always live up to the hype. But even if the game itself is boring, the words used to describe it are exciting.
annihilate
Geek alert: There is a comic book villain named Annihilus, whose hobby is not knitting.
Oklahoma annihilated Kansas State last year, but the Wildcats have won two straight in Norman.
blowout
This word originally referred to angry quarrels that likely involved blowhards.
Those blowouts led to a classic Super Bowl, though, won by Pittsburgh, 35-31.
clobber
In its three previous games this season against ranked teams, the Huskies clobbered then-No.
crush
For the Cowboys, that last startling completion by Rodgers helped bring a crushing end to a sterling season.
decimate
Kiko Alonso is the only linebacker certain to return, and a secondary decimated by injuries needs attention.
demolish
The Huskies demolished the Beavers 87-61 two weeks ago and hope to repeat that rare stellar performance at 8 p.m.
dominate
The game was dominated by the defenses, which frustrated most of the game’s drives on both sides.
drub
With its short, sharp sound, drub almost sounds like the pounding it represents.
Gregg Williams, the Rams’ defensive coordinator, spoke with reporters for the first time since last week’s 49-21 drubbing by the New Orleans Saints.
embarrass
The idea here is that a lousy team was masquerading as a good one. In a similar vein, sometimes people say a team that’s been exposed or embarrassed has been undressed.
After an embarrassing 27-point loss to Albany, do the Retrievers run laps or just get a light rolled-up newspaper tap on their noses?
expose
Left tackle Nate Solder said the vulnerabilities that were exposed last week by the Texans isn’t always a bad thing.
pummel
The Raiders pummeled Laurel on Tuesday and DuVal on Friday to stay unbeaten against Prince George’s County competition.
shutout
The Packers were shutout in the opening half and trailed 31-0 before finally getting on the scoreboard.
thrash
It’s fitting that thrash rhymes with crash and smash.
“It was almost breathtaking,” he said of that Fiesta Bowl scene when Utah thrashed Pitt, 35-7.
thwack
This can also be a sound effect for a blow or crash. Thwack! Thwack!
On the upper field, coaches thwacked receivers in their midsections with oversized pads.
trounce
They trounced the Seattle Seahawks and advanced to a home playoff game against the Giants.
victimize
The third-string goalie was victimized by some bad fortune and some defensive breakdowns.
wallop
This was originally a word for something it rhymed with: a horse’s gallop.
His favorite game was probably 1935, four years before Union Station opened, when Alabama, one of the best teams he’s ever seen, walloped Stanford.
lopsided
This word originally referred to ships that were bigger or heavier on one side, which doesn’t sound like a recipe for staying afloat.
It tied for the most lopsided victory this season for Stanford.
rout
He was Seattle’s defensive coordinator during back-to-back Super Bowl appearances - one a rout of the Broncos, the other a heartbreaking loss to the Patriots.
blitz
When comedian George Carlin compared football and war, this word was exhibit A.
The Giants’ defense was energetic and disruptive, bottling up an explosive offense with aggressive blitzes.

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