one-two punch
noun1
Boxing, Government, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Martial arts, Military, Politics, Sports, War A combination of two punches, one from each hand, thrown in rapid succession.
2
Broadly A rapid sequence or combination of two things that has a quick or powerful effect.
- Fish + Broccoli The benefit: You can sock it to cancer with this one-two punch.2007 November, Elizabeth Drake, “Combine and conquer: Use these winning food pairings to protect your health”, in Men's Health, volume 22, number 9, →ISSN, page 124:
- Products are increasingly differentiated by the one-two punch of crowd-sourced review and easy factual comparison.2012 March 21, Dwight Crow, “'Everything Is Automated': How Web Start-Ups Attack the Offline Economy”, in The Atlantic, archived from the original on 21 Apr 2013:
2 more examples
- “We find that the end-Cretaceous mass extinction was caused by a combination of the volcanism and asteroid impact, delivering a theoretical ‘one-two punch’,” said study co-author Sierra Petersen of the University of Michigan, using boxing terminology.2016 July 6, Sierra Petersen, quotee, “Dinosaurs killed off by ‘one-two punch’ of climate change and asteroid strike – study”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 09 Aug 2022:
- A one-two punch of diet drugs and TikTok undermined one of the most trusted brands in fat loss, lawyers for WeightWatchers told a US bankruptcy judge, as the bankrupt company seeks to reorganise into a slimmer version of itself.2025 May 10, “WeightWatchers blames diet drugs and social media for Chapter 11 bankruptcy”, in FT Weekend, London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 13:
- Related terms
- one-two