whiplash en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (Southern-England) audio
- /ˈwɪpˌlæʃ/
- /ˈʍɪpˌlæʃ/
Etymology
From whip + lash.
Meanings
- (countable) The lash of a whip.
-
(countable, uncountable) An injury to the upper spine connected to a violent jerk of the head in either a backward or forward or side to side direction, resembling the motion of a whip.
Of the nine staff in the third coach, most had been having a break, drinking tea or reading. One suffered a fractured skull, another a fractured shoulder. All were either thrown along or across the coach, sustaining cuts, bruising and whiplash injuries.
2026 March 18, Greg Morse, “1996 crash driving freight reforms”, in RAIL, number 1057, page 50:
-
(countable, figuratively, uncountable) An abrupt and unexpected change, or the resulting feeling of shock.
tonal whiplash
And he talked about the “whiplash” he often feels when it comes to A.I. these days, as some people urge companies like Google to move faster on A.I., release more products and take bigger risks, while others urge them to slow down and be more cautious.
2023 March 31, Kevin Roose, “Google C.E.O. Sundar Pichai on the A.I. Moment: ‘You Will See Us Be Bold’”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:A week of public health reversals from the White House and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has left Americans with pandemic whiplash, sowing confusion about coronavirus vaccines and mask-wearing as the Delta variant upends what people thought they knew about how to stay safe.
2021, Sheryl Gay Stolberg, Michael D. Shear, “Americans Suffer Pandemic Whiplash as Leaders Struggle With Changing Virus”, in The New York Times:Some parents, feeling too hurt by the push-off or taking their teenager’s rejections too personally, choose to make themselves unavailable. In some ways it does feel better to avoid episodes of emotional whiplash.
2014, Lisa Damour, “The Emotional Whiplash of Parenting a Teenager”, in Motherlode: Adventures In Parenting:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| whiplashes | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Deriveds
Synonyms
whiplash-associated disorder · zigzag course · switchback · whiplash injury
Translations (47)
de Schleudertrauma ((figurative) abrupt and unexpected change) · de Distorsion der Halswirbelsäule (whiplash injury) · ja むち打ち (lash of a whip) · pl raz (lash of a whip) · fi niskan retkahdusvamma (whiplash injury) · nl zweepslag (lash of a whip) · ga fuiplasc (whiplash injury) · ru хлыстова́я тра́вма (whiplash injury) · de Achterbahnfahrt ((figurative) abrupt and unexpected change) · it colpo di frusta (whiplash injury) · es latigazo (lash of a whip) · fr coup de fouet (lash of a whip) · ga lasc fuipe (lash of a whip) · de Halswirbelsäulenschleudertrauma (whiplash injury) · es traumatismo cervical (whiplash injury) · pl uraz biczowy (whiplash injury) · tr kamçı yaralanması (whiplash injury) · nl whiplash (whiplash injury) · es latigazo cervical (whiplash injury) · fi piiskaniskuvamma (whiplash injury) · da piskesmæld (lash of a whip) · de Schleudertrauma der Halswirbelsäule (whiplash injury) · ru реме́нь кнута́ (lash of a whip) · fr traumatisme cervical (whiplash injury) · sv pisksnärtsskada (whiplash injury) · ru бечева́ плети́ (lash of a whip) · no nakkesleng (whiplash injury) · de Peitschenriemen (lash of a whip) · de HWS-Schleudertrauma (whiplash injury) · no piskeslag (lash of a whip) · ca fuetada (lash of a whip) · fi piiskanisku (lash of a whip) · cmn 鞭打 (lash of a whip) · de HWS-Distorsion (whiplash injury) · pt lesão em chicote (whiplash injury) · it colpo m di frusta (lash of a whip) · sv pisksnärt (lash of a whip) · fr coup du lapin (whiplash injury) · de Schleudertrauma (whiplash injury) · cmn 揮鞭傷 /挥鞭伤 (whiplash injury) · da piskesmæld (whiplash injury) · bg камшичен удар (whiplash injury) · de Halswirbelsäulen-Distorsion (whiplash injury) · pt chicotada (lash of a whip) · sv whiplashskada (whiplash injury) · pl uraz biczowaty (whiplash injury) · da piskesmældslæsion (whiplash injury)