whiz
1 Americanverb (used without object)
-
whizzes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
whizzed,
past participle, past
-
whizzing
present participle
-
to make a humming, buzzing, or hissing sound, as an object passing swiftly through the air.
-
to move or rush with such a sound.
The angry hornets whizzed by in a cloud.
verb (used with object)
-
whizzes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
whizzed,
past participle, past
-
whizzing
present participle
-
to cause to whiz.
-
to treat with a whizzer.
noun
-
Informal. a person who is quite good at a particular activity, in a certain field, etc..
She's a whiz at math.
-
the sound of a whizzing object.
-
a swift movement producing such a sound.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
whizsimple
-
whizzessimple
-
have whizzedperfect
-
has whizzedperfect
-
am whizzingprogressive
-
are whizzingprogressive
-
is whizzingprogressive
-
have been whizzingperfect progressive
-
has been whizzingperfect progressive
Past
-
whizzedsimple
-
had whizzedperfect
-
was whizzingprogressive
-
were whizzingprogressive
-
had been whizzingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of whiz1
1540–50; imitative; cf. fizz
Origin of whiz2
By shortening
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:
It’s reassuring that you don’t necessarily need to be an AI whiz to up your earnings.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026
"It's not suddenly going to whiz past and you'll miss it. It's worth waiting around just in case the clouds move on."
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026
In 1957, Greenspan burnished his reputation as an analytical whiz when he warned the chief executive of a large steel company that inventories were oversaturated and a recession was likely.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026
The first-generation college student is among a cohort of AI whiz kids who are dropping out of college—and getting their investors to pay their bills.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 8, 2026
“You’re welcome, Miss Grabby Hands. Aren’t you the science whiz? Don’t you know about forces and equal and opposite reaction and all that?”
From "Beauty Queens" by Libba Bray
A full 20 years after the screen debut of the satire, the topspin of its best lines still whizzes with the same precision and blistering flight path of its 2006 self.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 6, 2026
Across two hours, Buckley’s Bride shoots, kicks, contorts, dances, scrapes, whizzes, licks and screams, all the while coming no closer to her true self than she was at the start of the film.
From Salon ● Mar. 8, 2026
That is part of the lifeblood of the state’s culture, cuisine, commerce and sense of possibility, and those students are now our teachers, nurses, physicians, engineers, entrepreneurs and tech whizzes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 27, 2025
Throngs of people precariously stand on the medians as high-speed traffic whizzes by.
From BBC ● Apr. 20, 2025
The red light of a curse whizzes past my ear.
From "The Manifestor Prophecy" by Angie Thomas
Svetnoy has said the bullet whizzed past his head and “narrowly missed him,” according to the gaffer’s suit.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 17, 2026
On a sunny morning in September, a dead doe lay on the side of a small road just off 395, as cars whizzed by on the artery that connects communities along the Eastern Sierra.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 10, 2025
We made it to the top, whizzed down the other side, passed the test—and passed it again and again, all the way across the country, through the agonizingly steep hills of western Maine.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 8, 2025
That same year, feeling restless, he whizzed off to Washington to work for Mr. Kissinger in the State Department.
From New York Times ● Jun. 17, 2024
She was whizzed into nothingness again, and nothingness was wonderful.
From "A Wrinkle in Time" by Madeleine L'Engle
Already a concrete bridge stretches across 10 lanes of whizzing traffic.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026
It is eerily quiet, no sound of the cars or motorbikes that are continuously whizzing through the city.
From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2026
Finding more of them could help scientists "understand how galaxies form and how many black holes are whizzing around," Stein said.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 6, 2026
Crowds winded through greenways and walking trails, processing through thin paths in single-file lines and dodging annoyed runners and whizzing bikers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 14, 2026
He tapped each one and they took off, whizzing around like birds preparing to land.
From "The Marvellers" by Dhonielle Clayton
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
