Word.ws English Dictionary

whiplashy

whiplashy adjective: reminiscent of a whiplash injury; involving a rapid back-and-forth jerking motion.

Adjective

whiplashy (comparative more whiplashy, superlative most whiplashy)

  1. (figuratively, informal, sometimes) Reminiscent of a whiplash injury; involving a rapid back-and-forth jerking motion.
    • The British news media has a whiplashy relationship with Ms. Deyn, simultaneously crushed-out and abusive.2009 July 9, Cintra Wilson, “Of the Moment, and Thinking Ahead”, in New York Times
    • If you're the type of rider who likes to stand on the pedals and whip the bike back and forth when climbing hills, you should know that doing so with your kid in the seat could give her a seriously unpleasant, whiplashy ride.2015, Robert Hurst, Christie Hurst, Family Biking: The Parent's Guide to Safe Cycling, page 78

Forms of whiplashy

comparativemore whiplashy
superlativemost whiplashy

Origin of whiplashy

From whiplash + -y.

Questions about whiplashy

What does whiplashy mean?
Whiplashy means reminiscent of a whiplash injury; involving a rapid back-and-forth jerking motion.
What part of speech is whiplashy?
Whiplashy is an adjective.

Words near whiplashy in the dictionary

  1. whiplash
  2. whiplashed
  3. whiplashes
  4. whiplashing
  5. whiplashlike
  6. whiplashy
  7. whipless
  8. whiplike
  9. whipline
  10. whiplines
  11. whipmaker

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: whiplashy (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: “whiplashy.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/whiplashy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.