flak

noun \ ˈflak \

variants: or less commonly flack

|Updated on: 22 Jul 2018

Examples: flak in a Sentence

Definition of flak

plural flak also flack

1 : antiaircraft guns

2 : the bursting shells fired from flak

3 : criticism, opposition

She has taken a good deal of flak for espousing that view.
—E. J. Kahn, Jr.

When I was a restaurant bar manager I sometimes found myself taking flak from my customers for our high prices …
—Rob Hill

See flak defined for English-language learners

See flak defined for kids

Examples of flak in a Sentence

He caught heavy flak for his decision to oppose the new school.
He took a lot of flak from the other kids for his unusual appearance.

Recent Examples of flak from the Web

The moves did not go entirely unnoticed, but Pfizer generally escaped much flak because other pharma companies did the same thing.

— kate sheridan, STAT, "How Pfizer’s CEO flew under the political radar with price hikes — until he tangled with Trump," 13 July 2018
Piano player gets flak from neighbors who say music is a disturbance » There's a water leak between two condos.

— howard dakoff, chicagotribune.com, "In condo association, what's the difference between a committee and a commission?," 3 July 2018
Later, the rapper began catching flak for his positive tweets about President Donald Trump.

— kevin rutherford, Billboard, "Kanye West Re-Enters Social 50 Chart at No. 2 Following Return to Twitter," 1 May 2018
At 400 to 500 miles an hour, the planes are too fast to be tracked by Nazi flak batteries.

— Popular Mechanics, "How the D-Day Invasion Was Planned," 6 June 2017
Then there’s Shatner, who, often justifiably, gets a lot of flak for laying it on thick, but his performance here is measured.

— keith phipps, Vox, "Harlan Ellison wrote Star Trek’s greatest episode. He hated it.," 29 June 2018
Still, the surprise of dropping out of an airplane against a backdrop of flak and northern lights was a twinkle of promise — a sign that Battlefield is at a turning point.

— t.c. sottek, The Verge, "After 16 years of war, Battlefield V is a turning point," 29 June 2018
Meghan Markle previously caught a lot of flak for wearing her hair in a loose updo, but the critique of her (perfectly pretty!) chignon came from a misguided place.

— caroline picard, Good Housekeeping, "Quiz: How Much Do You Really Know About Royal Protocol?," 26 June 2018
This wasn’t the first time Feldman faced flak when his yearly raise came before the City Commission.

— meryl kornfield, Sun-Sentinel.com, "Fort Lauderdale city manager defying mayor's call to move on," 23 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'flak.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of flak

German, from Fliegerabwehrkanonen, from Flieger flyer + Abwehr defense + Kanonen cannons

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1938

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

Other Military Terms

bivouac, logistics, petard, salient, sally, supernumerary, tactical

FLAK Defined for English Language Learners

flak

noun

Definition of flak for English Language Learners

: exploding shells that are shot at enemy aircraft from guns on the ground
: harsh criticism

Learn More about flak

See words that rhyme with flak Spanish Central: Translation of flak Nglish: Translation of flak for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of flak for Arabic speakers

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