fell stroke

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

And then – boom! – with one fell stroke of an adapter’s arbitrariness, Mr. Kelly altered the play’s ending in a way that crudely shrinks and simplifies its intentions.

From New York Times • Aug. 2, 2010

By one fell stroke he was put in second place, a man who had to await the return of Palmer—and that in his own church, so to speak.

From Twelve Men by Dreiser, Theodore

It was not in the way of things that he, who had always had everything, should at one fell stroke be left desolate.

From Old Rose and Silver by Reed, Myrtle

In another severe storm all the reindeer got away; and, of course, a valuable supply of fresh meat, besides transport, was cut off at one fell stroke.

From Notable Voyagers From Columbus to Nordenskiold by Kingston, William Henry Giles

Not even physicians were spared; and those who escaped trembled in anticipation of the fell stroke.

From Beulah by Evans, Augusta J. (Augusta Jane)