1
as in to flutter
to move or cause to move with a striking motion
started to flail his arms wildly when he spied a bat in the house
Synonyms & Similar Words
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2
as in to whip
to strike repeatedly with something long and thin or flexible
gruesome evidence that the prisoner had been flailed
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of flail
Justin Ray, New York Times, 13 Mar. 2026
Maggie Gyllenhaal’s reimagining of the Bride of Frankenstein story is flailing.
—ABC News, 8 Mar. 2026
Drawing on new interviews with Bowie’s collaborators and associates, as well as archival material, Larman offers a touching, detailed portrait of a gifted artist losing his bearings, flailing about, and re-inventing himself.
—George Kalogerakis, Air Mail, 28 Feb. 2026
Only Byrne’s flashes of humor and desperately flailing humanity keep her on this side of monstrous.
—Culture Critic, Los Angeles Times, 25 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for flail
Verb
After flailing for more than 11 strokes lost tee-to-green across two days in Orlando, Thomas gained shots on the field with his driver and irons Thursday.
—Justin Ray, New York Times, 13 Mar. 2026
Maggie Gyllenhaal’s reimagining of the Bride of Frankenstein story is flailing.
—ABC News, 8 Mar. 2026
Drawing on new interviews with Bowie’s collaborators and associates, as well as archival material, Larman offers a touching, detailed portrait of a gifted artist losing his bearings, flailing about, and re-inventing himself.
—George Kalogerakis, Air Mail, 28 Feb. 2026
Only Byrne’s flashes of humor and desperately flailing humanity keep her on this side of monstrous.
—Culture Critic, Los Angeles Times, 25 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for flail
Recent Examples of Synonyms for flail
Verb
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Patrick Kane took a shot from the point that fluttered through traffic and bounced off Compher, who was parked at the goalpost.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
20 Mar. 2026
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There’s a Super 8 projector pointed at a set of red velvet curtains, which flutter apart only for the man himself.—
Alison Foreman,
IndieWire,
14 Mar. 2026
Verb
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For 10 minutes, Boyd took in the scene as the flags whipped above the center-field scoreboard, Cubs infielders took grounders and stadium workers finished final preparations before 39,712 fans streamed into the ballpark.—
Meghan Montemurro,
Chicago Tribune,
27 Mar. 2026
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This pizza has soppressata, whipped ricotta and drizzles of hot honey.—
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
27 Mar. 2026
Noun
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But Beshear hasn’t turned Trump-bashing into a 24/7 vocation, or a weight-lifting contest where the winner is the critic wielding the heaviest bludgeon.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
1 Feb. 2026
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With the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and other instruments of force as his bludgeon, Khamenei has chosen bloodshed over conciliation.—
David Remnick,
New Yorker,
11 Jan. 2026
Verb
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View gallery - 7 images A wooden dragon sculpture that gently flaps its wings has become a crowd-funding hit, but after seeing the traditional handcrafted work that's been put into every single model, making each one unique, the value of such a piece becomes strikingly clear.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
24 Mar. 2026
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The jacket hugged every contour of your torso and never flapped in the wind.—
The Editors,
Outside,
18 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Controversial school policies hiding students’ gender transitions from parents remains a ripe issue the Supreme Court should take up, activists argue, despite the justices already handing parents a win in an emergency docket case on the matter earlier this month.—
Jack Birle,
The Washington Examiner,
28 Mar. 2026
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But her lover, the increasingly controlling and unhinged army corporal Don José, is gradually dimished to lurking in the shadows and hiding in crowds.—
Pam Kragen,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
28 Mar. 2026
Noun
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The state regulates 132 dams across Hawaii, most of them built as part of irrigation systems for the sugar cane industry, according to a 2019 infrastructure report by the American Society of Civil Engineers.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
21 Mar. 2026
-
Alberto Rodríguez, 73, limped with a cane down a deserted industrial street.—
Kate Linthicum,
Los Angeles Times,
21 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Tuesday, however, Epic Games slashed about 20 percent of its staff, more than 1,000 jobs, citing problems with its flagship Fortnite franchise … the same franchise that Disney’s Epic Games deal is connected to.—
Alex Weprin,
HollywoodReporter,
25 Mar. 2026
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Such an outcome could slash oil prices, flooding the market with supply currently choked by military threats in the Strait of Hormuz.—
Eleanor Pringle,
Fortune,
25 Mar. 2026
Noun
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The shooting unleashed a stream of political reaction, with Republicans quick to blame Pritzker and his fellow Democrats for championing the state’s sanctuary policies, using them as a political cudgel in expressing outrage over Gorman’s killing.—
Madeline Buckley,
Chicago Tribune,
27 Mar. 2026
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That blast and another nearby killed 13 Americans and hundreds of Afghans; the bombings became a political cudgel and a violent symbol of the messy end of the longest war in American history.—
JC Hallman,
Oklahoma Watch,
22 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Flail.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/flail. Accessed 31 Mar. 2026.
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