clapback
clapback noun: an exercise where the pupil is instructed to repeat a previously played rhythm by clapping.
Noun
clapback (countable and uncountable, plural clapbacks)
- An exercise where the pupil is instructed to repeat a previously played rhythm by clapping.
- A witty or sarcastic retort.
- While these bits of online affirmation are addicting, so too are the online takedowns, the clapbacks, the snark.2020 March 9, “'It's so toxic': why we're addicted to mean online gossip about women”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the...
- “My first truly viral video was a clapback to a nasty comment someone made about me being a stupid millennial and telling me to ‘go eat toast’,” Kung recalls.2023 October 7, Ajesh Patalay, quoting Jon Kung, “Jon Kung, the self-taught chef who went viral”, in HTSI, London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 02 Oct 2023...
Forms of clapback
| plural | clapbacks |
|---|
Origin of clapback
Deverbal from clap back. Compare similarly formed Middle English ȝainclappe (“counterblow, riposte”, literally “back-clap”).
Questions about clapback
- What does clapback mean?
- Clapback means an exercise where the pupil is instructed to repeat a previously played rhythm by clapping.
- What part of speech is clapback?
- Clapback is a noun.
- What is the plural of clapback?
- The plural of clapback is clapbacks.
Words near clapback in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: clapback (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-clapback.wav.
Cite this entry: “clapback.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/clapback. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.