flank
UK/flænk/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
British/flaŋk/
flank verb: to attack the flank(s) of.
Verb
flank (third-person singular simple present flanks, present participle flanking, simple past and past participle flanked)
- To attack the flank(s) of.
- To defend the flank(s) of.
- To place to the side(s) of.
- Stately colonnades are flank'd with trees.c. 1728, Christopher Pitt, Epistle to Mr. Spence
- [...] Mr. M. N. Rollason points out that on four-track lines on which the fast lines, in the centre, are flanked by the slow lines, and running at speed is permissible on all four, the traveller can enjoy some quite exciting experiences when trains are doing a "neck-and-neck" on adjacent lines.1944 May and June, “Notes and News: Express Travel on Slow Lines”, in Railway Magazine, page 184
- To be placed to the side(s) of something (usually in terms of two objects, one on each side).
Noun
flank (plural flanks)
- The lateral flesh between the last rib and the hip.
- Holonym: side
- Synonyms:
- latus
- A cut of meat from the flank of an animal.
- The extreme left or right edge of a military formation, army etc.
- Synonyms:
- wing
- The sides of a bastion perpendicular to the wall from which the bastion projects.
- The side of something, in general senses.
- Cautiously I approached the flank of the cliffs, where they terminated in an abrupt escarpment as though some all powerful hand had broken off a great section of rock and set it upon the surface of the earth.1918 September–November, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Land That Time Forgot”, in The Blue Book Magazine, Chicago, Ill.: Story-press Corp., →OCLC; republished as chapter VIII, in Hugo Gernsback, editor...
- Ahead the flanks of the Pennines gleamed faintly in the moonlight, looking as though they themselves were part of some dry and deserted lunar landscape.1960 January, G. Freeman Allen, “"Condor"—British Railways' fastest freight train”, in Trains Illustrated, page 48
- Synonyms:
- side
- Either of the two pockets located on the seat of a pair of pants.
- I took the quarter and hid it in my right flank.
- An ideological faction within a political party.
- Ford survived a primary challenge in 1976 from the right flank of the Republican Party by Ronald Reagan.
- The outermost strip of a road.
- The wing, one side of the pitch.
- The hosts also had Paul Robinson to thank for a string of saves, three of them coming against Jerome Thomas, who gave Michel Salgado a torrid time down the left flank.2011 January 23, Alistair Magowan, “Blackburn 2 - 0 West Brom”, in BBC
- That part of the acting surface of a gear wheel tooth that lies within the pitch line.
Adjective
flank (not comparable)
flank meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Malayalam
flank in Hindi
- flank, margin
- बग़ल baġal
flank in Tamil
- விலாமடிப்பு, படைத்தளத்தின், படைவகுப்பின் பக்கவாடு, கை
flank in Urdu
- flank
- کمر kamar
- flank, margin
- بغل baġal
flank in Malayalam
- ചണ്ണ, സേനാപാർശ്വം, ഉടൽ, ശരീരഭാഗം
More languagesFewer languages
- flank in Kannada
- ಅಳ್ಳೆ, ಮಗ್ಗುಲು, ಮಗ್ಗುಲ್, ಮಗ್ಗಿಲು
- flank in Punjabi
- ਵੱਖੀ vakkhī, ਪਾਸਾ pāsā
- flank in Odia
- ପାଖ pākha
- flank in Sanskrit
- पक्ष pakṣá
- flank in Tagalog
- hipik-hipikan
- flank in Arabic
- خَاصِرَة ḵāṣira, كَشْح kašḥ, جِنَاح jināḥ, جَانِب jānib
- flank in Myanmar
- နံ nam
Examples of flank in a sentence
- The pyramids at Giza are flanked by large cemeteries containing hundreds of mastabas.
- "Deploy two units of infantry along the enemy's flank," the general ordered.
- Ivan is planning an attack on our flank.
Synonyms of flank
Forms of flank
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | flanks |
| present participle | flanking |
| past participle | flanked |
| past | flanked |
| alternative form (obsolete) | flanck |
| Noun | |
| plural | flanks |
Origin of flank
From Late Middle English flanc, from Late Old English flanc (“flank”), from Old French flanc, of Germanic origin, probably Frankish *hlanca, from Proto-West Germanic *hlanku (“bend, curve, hip, flank”), from Proto-Germanic *hlankaz (“flexible, sleek, bendsome”), from Proto-Indo-European *kleng- (“to bend”). Akin to Old High German hlanca (“loin”), Middle Low German lanke (“hip joint”) (German lenken (“to bend, turn, lead”)), Old English hlanc (“loose, slender, flaccid, lank”). More at lank.
Words formed from flank
Phrases with flank
Words that rhyme with flank
Questions about flank
- What does flank mean?
- Flank means to attack the flank(s) of.
- What is flank in Hindi?
- Flank in Hindi is बग़ल (baġal). See Flank meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is flank?
- Flank can be a verb, a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce flank?
- Flank is pronounced /flænk/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of flank?
- The past tense of flank is flanked.
Words near flank in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: flank (page history and authors); बग़ल (Hindi) (page history and authors); flank (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); بغل (Urdu) (page history and authors); flank (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); flank (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਪਾਸਾ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); ପାଖ (Odia) (page history and authors); पक्ष (Sanskrit) (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-flank.ogg.
Cite this entry: “flank.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/flank. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.