finger-wag
finger-wag verb: to move the index finger horizontally back and forth, as to say no or reject something.
Verb
finger-wag (third-person singular simple present finger-wags, present participle finger-wagging, simple past and past participle finger-wagged)
- To move the index finger horizontally back and forth, as to say no or reject something.
- To move the index finger repeatedly up and down, as to threaten or reprimand someone.
- For these and other reasons, I disagree with reecent critiques of the film, such as Matt Novak's finger-wagging thinkpiece, "Idiocracy Is a Cruel Movie and You Should Be Ashamed for Liking It." (2014)2018, Nicole Seymour, Bad Environmentalism, page 246
Noun
finger-wag (plural finger-wags)
- The movement of the index finger horizontally back and forth, as to say no or reject something.
- The movement of the index finger repeatedly up and down, as to threaten or reprimand someone.
Forms of finger-wag
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | finger-wags |
| present participle | finger-wagging |
| past participle | finger-wagged |
| past | finger-wagged |
| alternative form | finger wag |
| alternative form | fingerwag |
| Noun | |
| plural | finger-wags |
Origin of finger-wag
From finger + wag.
Words formed from finger-wag
Questions about finger-wag
- What does finger-wag mean?
- Finger-wag means to move the index finger horizontally back and forth, as to say no or reject something.
- What part of speech is finger-wag?
- Finger-wag can be a verb or a noun.
- What is the past tense of finger-wag?
- The past tense of finger-wag is finger-wagged.
Words near finger-wag in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: finger-wag (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:
Cite this entry: “finger-wag.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/finger-wag. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.