January 23, 2015 – Word of the Day

whack

To whack something is to hit it. Other similar words are "smack" and "slap."

• Bobby whacked his little brother in the head.
• Those kids are whacking each other with sticks.
• Vince whacked his son for mouthing off. (He hit his son for speaking in a disrespectful manner.)
• Valerie got whacked in the intersection. (She got into an accident when another car hit hers.)
• The police got ready to whack the protesters with their batons.

Some carnival games require players to whack objects as they suddenly appear.

Sometimes, if a person is whacked, he or she is killed. If a thing is whacked, it’s eliminated or cut.

• Tony got whacked in the final episode of the series.
• The man was whacked for being a snitch. (He was killed for talking to the police.)
• The governor whacked several government programs saying they were too expensive.
• The TV show was whacked half way through its first season because no one was watching it.

As a form of American slang, "whack" has a few different meanings.

• That’s so whack. (That’s a bad situation.)
• Let me take a whack at this. (Let me try this.)
• That guy is a whacko. (He’s crazy. Sometimes this word is spelled "wacko" without the "h.")
• She’s kind of a whacky person. (She’s a little strange. This may also be spelled without the "h" — "wacky.")

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