flak catcher
flak catcher noun: a person whose job is to conduct public relations by shielding a more prominent person by intercepting and deflecting complaints and criticism.
Noun
flak catcher (plural flak catchers)
- A person whose job is to conduct public relations by shielding a more prominent person by intercepting and deflecting complaints and criticism.
- As the mau-mauing brigade heads downtown to the welfare office, they run into the chief flak catcher.1995, William McKeen, Tom Wolfe, page 78
- But as superintendent in charge of external relationships for the RCMP — image polisher and flak catcher — Edwards had learned to become patient and thick of skin.2006, William Deverell, High Crimes
Forms of flak catcher
| plural | flak catchers |
|---|---|
| alternative form | flak-catcher |
| alternative form | flack catcher |
| alternative form | flack-catcher |
Origin of flak catcher
Coined by American author and journalist Tom Wolfe in his 1970 book Radical Chic & Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers, from flak, meaning "criticism".
Questions about flak catcher
- What does flak catcher mean?
- Flak catcher means a person whose job is to conduct public relations by shielding a more prominent person by intercepting and deflecting complaints and criticism.
- What part of speech is flak catcher?
- Flak catcher is a noun.
- What is the plural of flak catcher?
- The plural of flak catcher is flak catchers.
Words near flak catcher in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: flak catcher (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.
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Cite this entry: “flak catcher.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/flak_catcher. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.