1
as in flutters
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
Relevance
2
as in whips
to strike repeatedly with something long and thin or flexible
gruesome evidence that the prisoner had been flailed
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for flails
Verb
-
To accomplish this, Barton turned to the fundamental dance technique of spotting, where the dancer finds a focal point in front of them and whips their head around to hold that focus spot and keep themself centered.—
Oliver Sava,
Vulture,
28 Aug. 2025 -
Wind whips both the sound waves and temperatures around, so bring a blanket even if it’s not forecast to rain or hail.—
John Wenzel,
Denver Post,
19 Aug. 2025
Verb
-
To clean your garbage disposal, Lane suggests starting by cleaning the rubber flaps by using dish soap and a brush or an old toothbrush to scrub the rubber flaps that line the disposal.—
Melissa Locker,
Southern Living,
2 Sep. 2025
-
Tamsin flaps her hand to fan herself.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
28 Aug. 2025
Verb
-
Contempt often hides within sarcasm or ridicule.—
Mark Travers,
Forbes.com,
7 Sep. 2025
-
Maddie hides her binging and purging from Deena and Jake, lying about being pregnant to distract her husband from what’s really going on.—
Jourdain Searles,
HollywoodReporter,
7 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
This high-speed rotation slashes production time for cylindrical components by more than two-thirds.—
Georgina Jedikovska,
Interesting Engineering,
3 Sep. 2025
-
The recession warning even assumes the Federal Reserve slashes rates, starting next month.—
Jason Ma,
Fortune,
22 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
The Cracker Barrel in Belleville still has lots of space between the tables, which is good, because a statistically improbable number of customers the other morning were using canes or walkers.—
Neal Rubin,
Freep.com,
28 Aug. 2025
-
Fennell explained that grapevine canes, the woody stems that support grape clusters, are an abundant, cellulose-rich material, and are available in the large quantities each year after harvest.—
Georgina Jedikovska,
Interesting Engineering,
13 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
The motion asked for the court to hold the city in contempt of court, saying LAPD officers hit journalists with batons and arrested them in violation of the court's previous order.—
BrieAnna J. Frank,
USA Today,
15 Aug. 2025
-
People that go to protests get beaten with batons.—
Tim Grierson,
Rolling Stone,
13 Aug. 2025
Verb
-
The scene flicks to a flashback of Henry at war, which then switches to Henry in his previous timeline suffering from a nightmare.—
Lincee Ray Published,
EW.com,
22 Aug. 2025
Verb
-
Instead, Ted slaps him in the face, twice.—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
5 Sep. 2025
-
Anthony thinks his fiancé wants a mother more than a partner, so Giuseppe slaps a pie into his face?—
Ben Travers,
IndieWire,
14 Aug. 2025
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Cite this Entry
“Flails.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/flails. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share