How to Use battle/clash of wills in a Sentence

battle/clash of wills

noun phrase

• Her constant battle of wills with the head nurse led to her leaving.
  — Patricia Sullivan, Washington Post, 12 Aug. 2022
• In a battle of wills, Campbell fought to keep the shark on the line and reel it in.
  — Shannon Larson, BostonGlobe.com, 19 Jan. 2023
• The first set was a battle of wills, with both players pushing each other to the limit.
  — Jenn Nelson, Forbes, 7 Sep. 2024
• Letting your criticism devolve into a battle of wills is not your best bet.
  — Chicago Tribune, 2 Nov. 2022
• Dating can be a battle of wills when your father is Sylvester Stallone.
  — Stephanie Wenger, Peoplemag, 17 May 2023
• In a fifth set, tennis often becomes a battle of wills more than shot-making, as weariness sets in.
  — Matthew Futterman, The Athletic, 8 July 2024
• To be sure, if the shutdown is seen simply as a political battle of wills, Democrats lost.
  — Niall Stanage, The Hill, 12 Nov. 2025
• Collette plays an opera diva caught in a battle of wills with her aspiring singer daughter (Young).
  — Scott Roxborough, The Hollywood Reporter, 13 Feb. 2023
• On Sunday there was no battle of wills, no self-indulgence, before the ovation.
  — Zachary Woolfe, New York Times, 17 Jan. 2023
• Greene and Marin Ireland make an incredible clash of wills, wits, and energies.
  — Andy Andersen, Vulture, 6 Apr. 2025
• This battle of wills is just the latest challenge to nuclear stability.
  — Jon Wolfsthal, The New Republic, 11 Oct. 2022
• Over seven hours, Hijack details both the battle of wills on the plane and the political games played on the ground below.
  — Brian Tallerico, Vulture, 6 Jan. 2025
• Again, Stroheim presented a very long cut—in the nine-hour range—and found himself in a battle of wills with Thalberg.
  — Richard Brody, New Yorker, 17 Jan. 2026
• Yet that battle of wills concluded with a thrilling forehand winner from Keys—who instantly burst into tears.
  — Vogue, 25 Jan. 2025
• Cartman locks horns with his mum in a battle of wills while an epic conflict unfolds and threatens South Park's very existence.
  — Travis Bean, Forbes, 10 July 2022
• In the meantime, the battle of wills among workers, the city and the government looks set to continue, with residents left holding the bag.
  — Annabelle Timsit, Washington Post, 15 Mar. 2023
• These games are always a battle of wills, particularly the ones at Goodison.
  — Patrick Boyland, The Athletic, 12 Feb. 2025
• However, a battle of wills threatens to tear them apart as the mirage of their online personas begins to clash with their real-life ambitions.
  — Josie Howell | [e-mail], al, 4 June 2023
• As with most everything surrounding this two-year battle of wills and personalities, more questions than answers remain.
  — John Cherwa, Los Angeles Times, 4 July 2023
• Onscreen, Ava facing off against Deborah in a battle of wills is giving the actress plenty of clip-worthy moments.
  — Joe Reid, Vulture, 19 Apr. 2025
• The trade war between the world’s two largest economies amounts to a battle of wills in which each stands poised to draw on economic advantages and political pressure points, analysts said.
  — Max Zahn, ABC News, 15 Apr. 2025
• Aster mysteriously finds her way to the lonely Beacon-keeper Halan, and a tense battle of wills unfolds.
  — Rosy Cordero, Deadline, 6 Sep. 2024
• That said, this tricky opposition can feel like a battle of wills, with your ambitions clashing against your instinct to protect yourself emotionally.
  — Valerie Mesa, People.com, 15 Jan. 2025
• Guilt, suspicion, and paranoia bleed into their friendship as a psychological battle of wills gives way to a darker side of the maternal instinct.
  — Samantha Bergeson, IndieWire, 9 July 2024
• Bollen writes with wit and style about an increasingly unhinged battle of wills between two unlikely, and formidable, opponents.
  — Sarah Lyall, New York Times, 25 Nov. 2024
• Despite their ongoing battle of wills, the president was savvy enough to capitalize on his daughter’s popularity.
  — Francine Uenuma, Smithsonian Magazine, 18 Nov. 2022
• Their epic battle of wills comes to verge on black comedy, but the widow’s simultaneous battle with her own mortality gives the novel an unexpected poignancy.
  — The New Yorker, 23 Dec. 2024
• Similar to a battle of wills, this alignment creates a challenging interaction, especially with both planets in signs that resist change and prefer to maintain their own way of doing things.
  — Valerie Mesa, Peoplemag, 2 Aug. 2024
• Sunday's final was a battle of wills as the competitors met each other shot for shot well into extra time, until Argentina ended France's hope for a consecutive win in penalty kicks.
  — Doha Madani, NBC News, 18 Dec. 2022
• Margaret Qualley and Christopher Abbott star in this wild psychosexual thriller, which finds a dominatrix and a young heir engaging in a battle of wills over one night in a hotel room.
  — Kevin Jacobsen, Entertainment Weekly, 25 Dec. 2025