as in inexperienced
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Recent Examples of would-be
But contracts for the sale fell through and would-be buyers backed out.
—
Steven Walker, The Orlando Sentinel, 6 Jan. 2026
Before kickoff on Sunday night, a priest was seen blessing the end zone where Ravens kicker Ravens kicker Tyler Loop would eventually miss the would-be walk-off field goal that would have sent Baltimore into the playoffs.
—Paulina Dedaj, FOXNews.com, 5 Jan. 2026
The Baltimore Ravens are finished for the season, done in by a would-be winning field goal gone awry.
—Mark Maske, Washington Post, 4 Jan. 2026
That many would-be tourists are uninformed about the area’s water-centric amenities and stately beachfront hotels is somewhat of a curiosity.
—David Lyons, Sun Sentinel, 3 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for would-be
Recent Examples of Synonyms for would-be
Adjective
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Jokic didn’t overtake Jamal Murray as Denver’s leading scorer until their seventh game of the season, after a 33-point performance Wednesday against a Miami Heat frontcourt that was woefully undersized and inexperienced the instant Bam Adebayo exited with a foot injury.—
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Henderson has struggled in that role as a rookie, and Jennings is inexperienced at the pro level.—
Adjective
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The interdisciplinary approach brought the duke’s life and death to a stunning clarity — indicating how analyses can shed new light on age-old mysteries, even murders.—
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While earning a master's degree in exercise and coaching science at University College Dublin, she was introduced to CrossFit and discovered a new kind of challenge with its emphasis on versatility and constant adaptation.—
Adjective
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Originally hesitant about using the relatively untried medium of radio in this way, The King was reassured by a visit to the BBC in the summer of 1932 and agreed to take part.—
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The hitch is that Florida is dependent on an untried product.—
Adjective
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Webster learned that the FBI, media organizations, and amateur internet sleuths were using facial-recognition software to identify those who’d stormed the Capitol.—
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But to unmask the killer in a mansion filled with ticking clocks and suspects, amateur detective Eileen must first get round discouragement from Lady Caterham, played by Helena Bonham Carter, and Sherlock star Martin Freeman as superintendent Battle.—
Adjective
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Cooking on unseasoned cast iron can result in sticking, rusting, and a myriad of other issues (some of which are outlined above).—
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To be fair, K&W never claimed to be a buffet, but the revelation that seconds were not an option — not even after a modest serving of chicken tenders and unseasoned fries — felt like a personal betrayal.—
Adjective
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Next week, Grizzly Bear headline the first show in a five-night run at New York’s Brooklyn Steel, the beginning leg of their first tour in six years.—
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A lot of the dialogue existed and the crew had the beginning demos of the songs to work with.—
Adjective
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Crawford pushes back against stereotypes that frame blue-collar labor as unskilled, pointing to the intelligence required to understand the technical aspects of complex systems while translating that knowledge to customers.—
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Complex negotiations in large organizations often fail—not because the negotiators are inexperienced or unskilled but because they’re constrained by two structural challenges, agency and alignment, and by the ways organizations manage those challenges.—
Adjective
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Ever the fighter, Cuomo refused to drop out of the mayoral race after losing the primary, electing to run as a third party candidate in the hopes of rallying support from voters who saw Mamdani as too untested and too far left to govern effectively.—
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In California, lawmakers set testing and tracking requirements of rape kits after it was learned that many untested kits had been left on the shelves of police and sheriff’s offices for years.—
Cite this Entry
“Would-be.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/would-be. Accessed 12 Jan. 2026.
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