Word.ws English Dictionary

get the flak

get the flak is the alternative form of take the flak.

Meaning of take the flak

Verb

take the flak (third-person singular simple present takes the flak, present participle taking the flak, simple past took the flak, past participle taken the flak)

  1. (informal, intransitive) To be strongly criticised.
    • The manager's going to take the flak for taking our star player off the pitch.

Forms of get the flak

third-person singular presentgets the flak
present participlegetting the flak
pastgot the flak
past participlegotten the flak
past participlegot the flak

Questions about get the flak

What is get the flak the alternative form of?
Get the flak is the alternative form of take the flak.

Words near get the flak in the dictionary

  1. get the door
  2. get the drawers
  3. get the drift
  4. get the drop on
  5. get the elbow
  6. get the flak
  7. get the goods on
  8. get the hang of
  9. get the hint
  10. get the idea
  11. get the job done

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: get the flak (page history and authors); take the flak (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: “get the flak.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/get_the_flak. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.