whiplash

whiplash

English

Etymology

whip +‎ lash

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈwɪp.ˌlæʃ/, /ˈʍɪp.ˌlæʃ/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: whip‧lash
• Rhymes: -ɪplæʃ

Noun

whiplash (plural whiplashes)

1. The lash of a whip.
2. 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.

   Synonyms: whiplash injury, whiplash-associated disorder

3. (figurative) An abrupt and unexpected change, or the resulting feeling of shock.
   • 2014, Lisa Damour, “The Emotional Whiplash of Parenting a Teenager”, in Motherlode: Adventures In Parenting‎:

     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.

   • 2021, Sheryl Gay Stolberg; Michael D. Shear, “Americans Suffer Pandemic Whiplash as Leaders Struggle With Changing Virus”, in The New York Times‎:

     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.

Usage notes

The exact causal chain leading to the medical condition as well as the objectivisation of its diagnostics are still controversial, thus the attributability of symptoms to the acts of tortfeasors is frequently subject to dispute.

Translations

lash of a whip

Catalan: fuetada f Chinese: Mandarin: 鞭打 (zh) (biāndǎ) Danish: piskesmæld Dutch: zweepslag (nl) Finnish: piiskanisku French: coup de fouet (fr) m German: Peitschenriemen m Italian: colpo (it) m di (it) frusta (it) f Norwegian: nakkesleng Portuguese: chicotada (pt) f Russian: реме́нь кнута́ m (reménʹ knutá), бечева́ плети́ f (bečevá pletí) Spanish: latigazo (es) m Swedish: pisksnärt (sv) c

whiplash injury

Bulgarian: камшичен удар m (kamšičen udar) Chinese: Mandarin: 揮鞭傷／挥鞭伤 (huībiānshāng) Danish: please add this translation if you can Dutch: whiplash (nl) c Finnish: piiskaniskuvamma (fi), niskan retkahdusvamma French: coup du lapin (fr) m (informal), traumatisme cervical m (formal) German: Schleudertrauma (de) n, Halswirbelsäulenschleudertrauma n, HWS-Schleudertrauma n, Halswirbelsäulen-Distorsion f, HWS-Distorsion f, Distorsion der Halswirbelsäule f, Schleudertrauma der Halswirbelsäule n Norwegian: please add this translation if you can Italian: colpo di frusta m Portuguese: lesão em chicote f Russian: хлыстова́я тра́вма (ru) f (xlystovája trávma) Spanish: latigazo cervical m Swedish: whiplashskada (sv) c, pisksnärtsskada (sv) c

Verb

whiplash (third-person singular simple present whiplashes, present participle whiplashing, simple past and past participle whiplashed)

1. To jerk back and forth; to buffet.
   • 2008, December 23, “Nicholas Confessore”, in Resistance to Kennedy Grows among Democrats‎:

     […] Ms. Kennedy has been whiplashed by assertions that she is at once protected and presumptuous.

2. To lash as if with a whip.
   • 1990, V.C. Andrews, My Sweet Audrina‎, →ISBN, page 98:

     After a while, he let go of my hand in order to protect his own face from being whiplashed by the low branches.

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Swedish

Noun

whiplash c

1. a whiplash injury

   Synonyms: whiplashskada, pisksnärtsskada

Declension

Declension of whiplash
	Uncountable
	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	whiplash	whiplashen	—	—
Genitive	whiplashs	whiplashens	—	—

References

• whiplash in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• whiplash in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• whiplash in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)