flak

noun

\ ˈflak

\

variants: or less commonly flack

plural flak also flack

Definition of flak

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

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 on the Web

Leach deleted his original tweet on Monday after taking so much flak for it. — Jenna West, SI.com, "Mike Leach Defends Tweeting Barack Obama Conspiracy Video From 2014," 18 June 2018 He's been heavily criticised in the aftermath of his dramatic reveal - and some of the flak has now been passed onto Pique. — SI.com, "Barcelona Chiefs Fume at Gerard Pique's Role in Antoine Griezmann's Decision to Reject Camp Nou," 15 June 2018 Kardashian West received flak in the media, but her meeting with Trump led to Johnson’s release from prison Wednesday. — Lindzi Scharf, latimes.com, "Kim Kardashian on managing life as a newfound social justice activist and cosmetics queen," 12 June 2018 The Department of Defense's 2017 budget is out, and the Air Force's version of the F-35 is taking flak. — Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, "New Air Force Budget Cuts Down the F-35 Fleet," 9 Feb. 2016 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

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.

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More Definitions for flak

flak

noun

English Language Learners Definition of flak

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

: harsh criticism

See the full definition for flak in the English Language Learners Dictionary

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