whiz

1 of 3

verb

variants or whizz
whizzed; whizzing

intransitive verb

1
: to hum, whir, or hiss like a speeding object (such as an arrow or ball) passing through air
2
: to fly or move swiftly especially with a whiz
cars whizzing by

transitive verb

: to cause to whiz
especially : to rotate very rapidly

whiz

2 of 3

noun (1)

variants or whizz
plural whizzes
1
: a hissing, buzzing, or whirring sound
2
: a movement or passage of something accompanied by a whizzing sound
3
sometimes vulgar : an act of urinating
used especially in the phrase take a whiz

whiz

3 of 3

noun (2)

plural whizzes
: wizard sense 2
a math whiz

Examples of whiz in a Sentence

Verb The ball whizzed through the air. Cars whizzed by on the highway. He whizzed past us on skates. She whizzed through the exam.
Recent Examples on the Web
Verb
Jeff Smith was whizzing along on a snowmobile one evening a few years back when something dark appeared in front of him. CBS News, 6 Mar. 2024 Reports from the scene said airport employees and others fled the scene amid whizzing bullets. Kim Hjelmgaard, USA TODAY, 5 Mar. 2024 The show, about an hour long, whizzed by in a trance of mostly midtempo rockers without gimmicks. Sophia Solano, Washington Post, 14 Feb. 2024 Before the halftime show, surprise halftime show performer H.E.R. whizzed by in a golf cart, smiling wide and waved to the backup dancers who started to line up before taking the stage with Usher. Alex Ross, Peoplemag, 13 Feb. 2024 Bonita Vista tied the score in the 43rd minute, when Alena Ramirez scored off a corner kick that whizzed past Mater Dei backup goalie Daniela Alfaro. San Diego Union-Tribune, 24 Feb. 2024 Chasing Tim Tebow, idolizing Tom Brady, fighting fires: Making of Colts QB Anthony Richardson The moments came whizzing by so fast to the man who hurled them. Nate Atkins, The Indianapolis Star, 18 Jan. 2024 Now, there are thousands of satellites whizzing in orbit at dizzying speeds that allow everything from the blue-dot GPS signal on your phone to the image on your television. Shane Harris, Washington Post, 15 Feb. 2024 Without golf balls whizzing overhead, the land has become habitat for migratory shorebirds, among them black-necked stilts, greater yellowlegs and sandpipers, and has even drawn the secretive American bittern. Cara Buckley, New York Times, 15 Feb. 2024
Noun
This comes after the Seattle Seahawks announced the hiring of Ravens’ defensive whiz Mike Macdonald. Patricia Garcia, Sacramento Bee, 2 Feb. 2024 Hemant Mishra/Mint via Getty Images Born in a small coastal town in Kerala to educator parents, Raveendran grew up a math whiz. Pallavi Pundir, Fortune Asia, 1 Mar. 2024 But, last month, John Burn-Murdoch, a data whiz at the Financial Times, pointed out that Britain, France, and Germany also experienced big jumps in consumer prices, and yet their consumers haven’t been as gloomy as Americans have been. John Cassidy, The New Yorker, 22 Jan. 2024 Apple’s decision to hire this technical whiz — a Stanford engineering Ph.D. named Marcelo Lamego — is seen as the spark that sent Masimo’s lawyers after Apple. Mark Gurman, Fortune, 27 Dec. 2023 For her debut album, the techno whiz turns into a dance-pop singer-songwriter, delivering downy reveries that float on as her mind drifts back to California, old friends, and ice baths in Oslo. Pitchfork, 12 Dec. 2023 Damon stars as Will Hunting, a math whiz who was recently paroled from jail and works as a janitor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Jacqueline Weiss, Peoplemag, 5 Dec. 2023 Stanford economist and flexible work whiz Nick Bloom predicts the rate of people working from home will remain just under one-third until 2026. Paige McGlauflin, Fortune, 1 Dec. 2023 Ease of layout: While some professionals will create photo books with these online services, the average person using them is unlikely to be a Photoshop or InDesign whiz. Valerie Walsh, wsj.com, 1 Nov. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'whiz.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Verb

imitative

Noun (2)

probably by shortening & alteration

First Known Use

Verb

1582, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1

Noun (1)

1620, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun (2)

1914, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of whiz was in 1582

Dictionary Entries Near whiz

Cite this Entry

“Whiz.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/whiz. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

whiz

1 of 3 verb
variants or whizz
ˈhwiz How to pronounce whiz (audio)
ˈwiz
whizzed; whizzing
1
: to hum, buzz, or hiss like a speeding object (as an arrow or ball) passing through air
2
: to fly, pass, or move swiftly with a buzzing sound
cars whizzing by
whizzer noun

whiz

2 of 3 noun
variants or whizz
plural whizzes
: a humming, buzzing, or hissing sound

whiz

3 of 3 noun
plural whizzes
: wizard sense 2
a math whiz
Etymology

Verb

probably coined in imitation of the sound of a speeding object going by

Noun

probably a shortened and altered form of wizard

More from Merriam-Webster on whiz

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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