flak

or flack

[flak]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR flak ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

antiaircraft fire, especially as experienced by the crews of combat airplanes at which the fire is directed.

criticism; hostile reaction; abuse: Such an unpopular decision is bound to draw a lot of flak from the press.

Origin of flak

1935–40; < German Fl(ieger)a(bwehr)k(anone) antiaircraft gun, equivalent to Flieger aircraft (literally, flyer) + Abwehr defense + Kanone gun, cannon

Can be confusedflack flak

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for flak

opposition, knock, swipe, abuse, hostility, condemnation, censure, disparagement, disapprobation, disapproval, rap, pan, brickbat, fault-finding

Examples from the Web for flak

Contemporary Examples of flak

It felt to me like a plane flying through the flak of an economy.
F-111: Death-Dealing, Pop-Art Masterpiece
Nicolaus Mills
October 15, 2014
You fired off a tweet about ISIS recently that got you some flak.
Bill Maher: 'Sorry J. Law, We're Going to Have to Look at Your Nipples…'
Marlow Stern
September 10, 2014
They looked younger now than when weighed down in camouflage, flak jackets and helmets.
Shakeup In the Ukraine Rebel High Command
Jamie Dettmer
August 15, 2014
When NYC Prep premiered, it got a lot of flak for the sheer gall of its unreality.
The Surreal Genius of Bravo’s Rich Kids Docudrama ‘NYC Prep’
Amy Zimmerman
April 23, 2014
He was bare armed under a protective jacket a jail official termed “a kind of flak jacket.”
Ex-Cop’s Shooting of Texting Moviegoer Ends in Tragedy
Michael Daly
January 15, 2014

Historical Examples of flak

Sim's ship had picked up a small piece of flak, but it had done no damage.
A Yankee Flier Over Berlin
Al Avery
Stan laid over and made a sweep, ducking in and out of the flak.
A Yankee Flier Over Berlin
Al Avery
Over the estuary of the Rhine River Stan met his first flak.
A Yankee Flier Over Berlin
Al Avery
I'll take you right down on top of them, and nuts to their flak fire.
Dave Dawson at Truk
Robert Sydney Bowen
There were flak towers, but they were too dangerous and we all flew around them.
The Biography of a Rabbit
Roy Benson

British Dictionary definitions for flak

flak

flack

noun

anti-aircraft fire or artillery

informal a great deal of adverse criticism

Word Origin for flak

C20: from German Fl (ieger) a (bwehr) k (anone), literally: aircraft defence gun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for flak

1938, from German Flak, condensed from Fliegerabwehrkanone, literally "pilot warding-off cannon." Sense of "anti-aircraft fire" is 1940; metaphoric sense of "criticism" is c.1963 in American English.