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
Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 4 Apr. 2026
In a video captured by beach-goers, Phan was seen rushing to the shoreline to untangle the flailing predator.
—Alexandra Koch, FOXNews.com, 3 Apr. 2026
In addition to serving as a showrunner, Levy stars as Nicky, an openly gay pastor who gets wrapped up in a shady underworld plot with his flailing sister Morgan (Taylor Ortega).
—Randall Colburn, Entertainment Weekly, 1 Apr. 2026
Keeping her American accent, Sink’s Shakespearen cadence does not emanate as naturally, but her earnest delivery and flailing hand gestures deliver an awkward, uncertain, truly young Juliet that is not often seen.
—Ellise Shafer, Variety, 1 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for flail
Verb
Since then, the basketball program has grown from a flailing handcar to the little engine that could to a freight train.
—Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 4 Apr. 2026
In a video captured by beach-goers, Phan was seen rushing to the shoreline to untangle the flailing predator.
—Alexandra Koch, FOXNews.com, 3 Apr. 2026
In addition to serving as a showrunner, Levy stars as Nicky, an openly gay pastor who gets wrapped up in a shady underworld plot with his flailing sister Morgan (Taylor Ortega).
—Randall Colburn, Entertainment Weekly, 1 Apr. 2026
Keeping her American accent, Sink’s Shakespearen cadence does not emanate as naturally, but her earnest delivery and flailing hand gestures deliver an awkward, uncertain, truly young Juliet that is not often seen.
—Ellise Shafer, Variety, 1 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for flail
Recent Examples of Synonyms for flail
Verb
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Kick your legs in small up-and-down fluttering motions while keeping your lower back flat and abs tight throughout.—
Jakob Roze,
Health,
8 Apr. 2026
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Video from the scene hours after the fire first erupted showed ash fluttering through the air and burned paper in the yards of homes across the street from the warehouse.—
Joy Benedict,
CBS News,
7 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Canty is one of the coaches who whips students into shape.—
Terell Bailey,
CBS News,
16 Apr. 2026
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Johnson whipped out his phone and shared a photo of Maivia with the audience, who applauded at the likeness.—
Rebecca Rubin,
Variety,
16 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Iran practices honest bludgeon work.—
Voice of the People,
New York Daily News,
4 Apr. 2026
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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
Verb
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The setting is Scotland — very exotic to Danes back in the 19th century (not to mention great for showing off a male dancer’s petit batterie beneath a flapping kilt).—
Rachel Howard,
San Francisco Chronicle,
11 Apr. 2026
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The structure flaps its wings when powered by electricity.—
Aamir Khollam,
Interesting Engineering,
9 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Neither made any attempt to hide their contempt for the other from the media or the public.—
Scott M. Reid,
Oc Register,
17 Apr. 2026
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Unlike other bands who have used a hiatus as an excuse to hide acrimony, James says the members went their separate ways with zero animosity.—
Daniel Kohn,
Rolling Stone,
17 Apr. 2026
Noun
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The minutes-long standstill forced several people into the street; many more, including my husband and his cane, engaged in a potentially perilous stutter-step around the two knee-high, randomly moving yet noncommunicative vehicles.—
Culture Critic,
Los Angeles Times,
14 Apr. 2026
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As the Latin American and Caribbean flags waved across the giant sea of fans, with several people wearing the quintessentially Colombian black-and-white cane-fiber hats known as sombreros vueltiaos, a little girl sat atop her parent’s shoulders screaming with joy.—
Vanessa Diaz,
Rolling Stone,
13 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Although the state of emergency has slashed El Salvador’s homicide rate, authorities have arrested over 91,000 people, with human rights groups documenting thousands of wrongful detentions.—
Marcos Aleman,
Los Angeles Times,
22 Apr. 2026
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European airlines have already slashed short haul capacity for April and May, with the region’s ‘big three’ network carriers — Lufthansa, Air France-KLM, and IAG — also cutting transatlantic capacity, Bank of America analysis shows.—
Hugh Leask,
CNBC,
22 Apr. 2026
Noun
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The three main mayoral candidates seem to have finally prioritized the problem, or at least understand its value as a cudgel against each other.—
Gary Baum,
HollywoodReporter,
17 Apr. 2026
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The ostensible fear is that of identity hardening into a cudgel, foreshortening a character’s emotional palette.—
Doreen St. Félix,
New Yorker,
14 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Flail.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/flail. Accessed 24 Apr. 2026.
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