Word.ws English Dictionary

have a whale of a time

have a whale of a time verb: to enjoy oneself greatly: to have a very good time.

Verb

have a whale of a time (third-person singular simple present has a whale of a time, present participle having a whale of a time, simple past and past participle had a whale of a time)

  1. (idiomatic) To enjoy oneself greatly: to have a very good time.
    • We had a whale of a time at the party Saturday night.
    Synonyms:
    have a ball

Synonyms of have a whale of a time

Forms of have a whale of a time

third-person singular presenthas a whale of a time
present participlehaving a whale of a time
past participlehad a whale of a time
pasthad a whale of a time

Origin of have a whale of a time

Compare whale (“something or someone excellent”); thus, not just any good time but rather a great time.

Questions about have a whale of a time

What does have a whale of a time mean?
Have a whale of a time means to enjoy oneself greatly: to have a very good time.
What part of speech is have a whale of a time?
Have a whale of a time is a verb.
What is the past tense of have a whale of a time?
The past tense of have a whale of a time is had a whale of a time.

Words near have a whale of a time in the dictionary

  1. have a tinkle
  2. have a turtle's head
  3. have a visual on
  4. have a way with
  5. have a whack at
  6. have a whale of a time
  7. have a word
  8. have a word in someone's ear
  9. have a word with oneself
  10. have against
  11. have an accident

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: have a whale of a time (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: en-au-have a whale of a time.ogg.

Cite this entry: “have a whale of a time.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/have_a_whale_of_a_time. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.