How to use whiplash in a sentence

10 example sentences · noun, verb

Whiplash means the lash of a whip. Example: “Next thing I know, they were drafting me and sending me off to Fort Sill for basic training. Talk about whiplash.”

Examples of whiplash by meaning

nounAn injury to the upper spine connected to a violent jerk of the head in either a backward or forward or side to side...

All were either thrown along or across the coach, sustaining cuts, bruising and whiplash injuries.2026 March 18, Greg Morse, “1996 crash driving freight reforms”, in RAIL, number 1057, page 50

nounAn abrupt and unexpected change, or the resulting feeling of shock.

In some ways it does feel better to avoid episodes of emotional whiplash.2014, Lisa Damour, “The Emotional Whiplash of Parenting a Teenager”, in Motherlode: Adventures In Parenting

verbTo jerk back and forth; to buffet.

Kennedy has been whiplashed by assertions that she is at once protected and presumptuous.2008 December 23, Nicholas Confessore, “Resistance to Kennedy Grows among Democrats”, in The New York Times

verbTo lash as if with a whip.

After a while, he let go of my hand in order to protect his own face from being whiplashed by the low branches.1990, V.C. Andrews, My Sweet Audrina, →ISBN, page 98

More sentences with whiplash

Next thing I know, they were drafting me and sending me off to Fort Sill for basic training. Talk about whiplash.From the entry basic training
Biomechanical studies have suggested facet impingement of the meniscoid (synovial fold) as a whiplash injury mechansim.2000, Satoshi Inami, Koji Kaneoka, Naoyuki Ochiai, “Anatomy of the Cervical Facet Joints Meniscoids”, in Narayan Yoganandan, Frank A.…. From the entry meniscoid
The tragic consequences of Bed Bath & Beyond's whiplashing fortunes have cast an even darker cloud over Cohen's reputation.2022 September 12, Ryan Cohen, “The Money Game: Jen Wieczner”, in New York, volume 55, number 19, via EBSCOhost, →ISSN, pages 14-15. From the entry ape
At tech companies that spent recent years expanding paid parental leave, parents have felt the whiplash of mass layoffs in an especially visceral way.2023 April 11, Kurtis Lee, “California Economy Is on Edge After Tech Layoffs and Studio Cutbacks”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived…. From the entry layoff
What's disappointing about all this doom and gloom is that the franchise has made the kind of whiplashing U-turn you might see in its car-chase sequences.2025 May 14, Nicholas Barber, “'A miserable, apocalyptic tract': Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning could be 'the feel-bad film of…. From the entry u-turn
Consequently, we had eight injured Melbas, seven cases of whiplash, six cracked ribs, five fractured wrists, four chipped teeth, three broken noses, and two uninsured taxis.2004, Leslie Carroll, chapter 1, in Temporary Insanity: […], New York, N.Y.: Avon Trade, HarperCollins, →ISBN, page 6. From the entry and a partridge in a pear tree

Meaning of whiplash

noun The lash of a whip.
noun An injury to the upper spine connected to a violent jerk of the head in either a backward or forward or side to side direction, resembling the motion of a whip.
noun An abrupt and unexpected change, or the resulting feeling of shock.

Full definition of whiplash

Questions about whiplash in a sentence

How do you use whiplash in a sentence?: Whiplash is used as a noun and verb. For example: “Next thing I know, they were drafting me and sending me off to Fort Sill for basic training. Talk about whiplash.”
What is a short sentence with whiplash?: “In some ways it does feel better to avoid episodes of emotional whiplash.”
What does whiplash mean?: Whiplash means the lash of a whip.

Adapted from Wiktionary: whiplash (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use whiplash in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/whiplash. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.