whammo
/ˈwæməʊ/US/ˈwæmoʊ/
whammo interjection: used to emphasize the suddenness of an event.
Interjection
- Used to emphasize the suddenness of an event.
- So, I'm driving along when, whammo, a tree falls in front of the car.
- "Sure, the boys say, 'What's the use? I'd just get started and whammo, I'm gone.'"1951 November 5, “The Younger Generation”, in Time Magazine
- Synonyms:
- blammo
Noun
whammo (plural whammos)
- An action-packed scene in a film, etc.
- […] dawdles for 15 minutes before presenting a mild whammo. The whammos start at about 33 minutes and then pile up at 36 minutes, 40 minutes, 50 minutes, 59 minutes, and 64 minutes.2006, David Bordwell, The Way Hollywood Tells it: Story and Style in Modern Movies, page 113
Synonyms of whammo
Forms of whammo
| plural | whammos |
|---|
Origin of whammo
From wham + -o.
Words that rhyme with whammo
Questions about whammo
- What does whammo mean?
- Whammo means used to emphasize the suddenness of an event.
- What part of speech is whammo?
- Whammo can be an interjection or a noun.
- How do you pronounce whammo?
- Whammo is pronounced /ˈwæməʊ/ (UK).
Words near whammo in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: whammo (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-whammo.wav.
Cite this entry: “whammo.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/whammo. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.