Whiplash

Quick meaning: Whiplash is a noun meaning (countable) The lash of a whip.

Meaning

(countable) The lash of a whip.

More Meanings

1. (figurative) An abrupt and unexpected change, or the resulting feeling of shock.
2. To jerk back and forth; to buffet.
3. To lash as if with a whip.
4. An injury to the upper spine connected to a violent jerk of the head in either a backward or forward or side to side direction, resembling the motion of a whip.

Example Sentences

tonal whiplash

[…] Ms. Kennedy has been whiplashed by assertions that she is at once protected and presumptuous.

After a while, he let go of my hand in order to protect his own face from being whiplashed by the low branches.

Some parents, feeling too hurt by the push-off or taking their teenager’s rejections too personally, choose to make themselves unavailable. In some ways it does feel better to avoid episodes of emotional whiplash.

Word Forms

• whiplashes
• whiplashing
• whiplashed

Synonyms for whiplash

Depending on context, synonyms include switchback, lash, whip.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include lash, whip, whipping, flogging, fillip, thong.

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