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
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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
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of flail
Arthur Staple, New York Times, 3 Apr. 2025
Eager to shift the blame for his administration’s flailing response to COVID-19, Trump suspended U.S. funding to the WHO in April 2020 and later announced that the United States would withdraw from the organization.
—Thomas J. Bollyky, Foreign Affairs, 24 Mar. 2025
While Pomerleau was credited near the outset of his tenure for bringing order to a flailing department, his detractors came to view him as a kind of municipal dictator—and a racist one at that.
—Marc J. Dunkelman, TIME, 27 Feb. 2025
Two key themes have dominated campaigning: curbing mass migration and righting the country’s flailing economy.
—Sebastian Shukla, CNN, 22 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for flail
Verb
The flailing power play was 0-for-4 on Wednesday and produced five total shots with the advantage; the best scoring chance of those three third-period power plays was Matt Boldy’s short-handed try for Minnesota.
—Arthur Staple, New York Times, 3 Apr. 2025
Eager to shift the blame for his administration’s flailing response to COVID-19, Trump suspended U.S. funding to the WHO in April 2020 and later announced that the United States would withdraw from the organization.
—Thomas J. Bollyky, Foreign Affairs, 24 Mar. 2025
While Pomerleau was credited near the outset of his tenure for bringing order to a flailing department, his detractors came to view him as a kind of municipal dictator—and a racist one at that.
—Marc J. Dunkelman, TIME, 27 Feb. 2025
Two key themes have dominated campaigning: curbing mass migration and righting the country’s flailing economy.
—Sebastian Shukla, CNN, 22 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for flail
Recent Examples of Synonyms for flail
Verb
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While some birds can flutter in place momentarily, the hummingbird can hover in one place for an extended period, fly forward or backward, and move at an incredible speed.—
Ernie Cowan,
Mercury News,
27 Apr. 2025
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Less enjoyable: being assaulted by the insects that are fluttering around the porch lights, just waiting for an opportunity to be ushered indoors.—
Brandee Gruener,
Southern Living,
17 Apr. 2025
Verb
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That means the weather was ripe for fire, and wind gusts of up to 25 miles per hour quickly whipped the fire toward inhabited areas.—
Stephanie Pappas,
Scientific American,
23 Apr. 2025
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Get The Recipe 11 of 25 Lemon-Lime Poke Cake This recipe dresses up a white cake mix with a citrus-spiked filling and whipped topping.—
Mary Alice Russell,
Southern Living,
16 Apr. 2025
Noun
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Peace in Ukraine and the Middle East is proving to be far harder to achieve than the real estate deals envisaged by the president, while the bludgeon of tariffs is raising ever more opposition among erstwhile allies.—
Daniel R. Depetris,
Newsweek,
25 Mar. 2025
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Mishra then abruptly juxtaposes a scene from Gaza, flush with heavy-handed language that bludgeons home his comparison.—
Franklin Foer,
The Atlantic,
26 Feb. 2025
Verb
-
Rainbow flags flap in the breeze in Postos 8 and 9, which draw a generally mixed LGBTQ+ crowd.—
JD Shadel,
Them.,
21 Apr. 2025
-
International flags flapped in the wind at both the start and end as a reminder of the year’s theme: Around The World in 13.1 miles.—
Carolyn Komatsoulis,
Idaho Statesman,
20 Apr. 2025
Verb
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Liv is forced to break up with her human fiancé, Major (Robert Buckley) to avoid infecting him, and becomes estranged from her best friend and roommate Peyton (Aly Michalka), hiding her new zombie nature from both.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
27 Apr. 2025
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Unfortunately, the cause of the odor is often hidden.—
Brandee Gruener,
Southern Living,
27 Apr. 2025
Noun
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And, in a development that has been decades in the making, civil-rights laws have been reduced to cudgels for coercing universities into subservience.—
Jeannie Suk Gersen,
New Yorker,
15 Apr. 2025
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Art of the trade deal Trump enacted tariffs on steel and aluminum for most countries during his first administration and used them as a cudgel against Mexico and Canada to negotiate an update to the North American Free Trade Agreement that was more favorable to the United States.—
Zac Anderson,
USA Today,
2 Apr. 2025
Verb
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The Trump administration wants to significantly cut NASA’s budget next year, slashing science research funding in half, a reduction that would halt the launch of a high-tech space telescope and curtail other planetary exploration missions.—
George Petras,
USA Today,
22 Apr. 2025
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Nimmo is slashing mere .202/.253/.381 this season, but Sunday’s heroics could be a sign of changing fortune.—
James O'Connell,
New York Daily News,
20 Apr. 2025
Noun
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An older man walking with a cane was also caught up in the scuffle and fell on his back.—
Meredith Kile,
People.com,
25 Apr. 2025
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Walking with a cane and recovering from a recent illness, Mr. Lev could not resist doing a little jig as stepped upon it to the cheers of friends and family.—
Dina Kraft,
Christian Science Monitor,
24 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Flail.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/flail. Accessed 5 May. 2025.
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