thwack
Americanverb (used with object)
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thwacks,
present (3rd person singular)
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thwacked,
past participle, past
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thwacking
present participle
noun
verb
noun
interjection
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
thwacksimple
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thwackssimple
-
have thwackedperfect
-
has thwackedperfect
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am thwackingprogressive
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are thwackingprogressive
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is thwackingprogressive
-
have been thwackingperfect progressive
-
has been thwackingperfect progressive
Past
-
thwackedsimple
-
had thwackedperfect
-
was thwackingprogressive
-
were thwackingprogressive
-
had been thwackingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of thwack
First recorded in 1520–30; imitative
Vocabulary lists containing thwack
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The following “RV Envy” adds the thwack of a full drum kit to the mix, and the staticky howl of the hurdy-gurdy is as hectic as a smashed window triggering a building’s alarm system.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 3, 2026
Dahlia Lithwick: I think what Judge Burroughs did was quite remarkable—she took a thwack at Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh in the opinion itself.
From Slate ● Sep. 5, 2025
With a hop, skip and a thwack, Chloe Kelly scored the winning penalty in the Euro 2025 final - and shifted the culture of English football.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2025
The truck, which serves Mexican food, was parked across from a two-story home under construction, where the clang of hammers and thwack of nail guns sent echoes through the canyon.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2024
A thwack on Frank’s back from a guy a full head taller than him, with a thick beard, a loud voice, and a face sunburned bright red just like Frank’s.
From "A Bird Will Soar" by Alison Green Myers
Manly Mando thwacks and snicks his way through all opponents while scarcely breaking a sweat.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 21, 2026
Over the course of four decades, Oscar-winning sound designer Richard King has accumulated a library of tens of thousands of thuds, thwacks, clacks and other original recordings, yet he’s still always searching for something new.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 13, 2024
“We’d also record it above ground to get the actual sound of the impact,” Mangini said, demonstrating his method for me with a few sharp thwacks into the Zuma Beach sand.
From New York Times ● Mar. 16, 2022
No crack of bats or thwacks of balls popping into mitts.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 15, 2022
After putting on running tights, a long-sleeve T-shirt, gloves, and a hoodie, she crossed the hall to Brooklyn’s room and gave the door three hard thwacks with the bottom of her fist.
From "City Spies" by James Ponti
“The shucked abalone is trimmed, butterflied, and thwacked lightly with a mallet.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
Fans all over the world can track every shot of every player — including balls thwacked on the driving range.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 11, 2025
When Neil Wagner tried to bounce him, Brook cleared the front leg and thwacked the ball away, baseball-style.
From BBC ● Feb. 23, 2023
The OSIRIS-REX spacecraft is on its way back to Earth, having thwacked — briefly — the surface of an asteroid called Bennu last year to scoop up samples.
From New York Times ● Dec. 15, 2021
The children gasped as the boat flew up into the air and Maalu thwacked back into the ocean.
From "The Boy Who Met a Whale" by Nizrana Farook
Once, the frenetic thwacking of flippers was the peak of manic childhood glee.
From Salon ● Jun. 18, 2023
By the afternoon, the usual sounds of baseball echoed through the facility, balls thwacking into mitts in the bullpens and on the back fields.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 15, 2023
In the U.S. alone, somewhere between several hundred million and one billion birds die every year after thwacking into windows, many of them beckoned by interior lights.
From Scientific American ● Oct. 1, 2022
Her mother-in-law, Sojar Owhal, spent years on plantations, hunched over, thwacking stalks with a machete, then balancing bundles on her head to load onto trucks.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 8, 2021
Conversation trailed off, and the room became silent except for the monotonous thwacking of J.B. riding his rocking horse in the corner.
From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
