thwack
Americanverb (used with object)
-
thwacks,
present (3rd person singular)
-
thwacked,
past participle, past
-
thwacking
present participle
noun
verb
noun
interjection
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
thwacksimple
-
thwackssimple
-
have thwackedperfect
-
has thwackedperfect
-
am thwackingprogressive
-
are thwackingprogressive
-
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
"Beryl was like a surprise attack, like an ambush," says Cornelius, in a deep baritone voice, over the market's chatter, reggae and thwack of cleavers on chopping boards.
From BBC ● Dec. 29, 2024
Only then can he thwack the ball toward his opponent.
From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2024
Doon heard a hard thwack and a loud “Ouch!” at the same moment.
From "The City of Ember" by Jeanne DuPrau
Manly Mando thwacks and snicks his way through all opponents while scarcely breaking a sweat.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 21, 2026
It lacks the control of Guadagnino’s earlier work — or rather, I should say, it takes subtlety and restraint and thwacks them over the fence and into the bushes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 25, 2024
“Becoming,” for trumpet and electronics, asks Wooley to exercise his extended-technique chops — sometimes pristine, sometimes gravelly, generally whisper-quiet — in sections that pass without adornment, between ritualistic gong thwacks.
From New York Times ● Sep. 30, 2021
Two thwacks of the cleaver and he’s cut the duck in half.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 24, 2021
It thwacks into my open glove, falls to the ground, and three of their runners score.
From "You Bring the Distant Near" by Mitali Perkins
“The shucked abalone is trimmed, butterflied, and thwacked lightly with a mallet.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
His mother, wife, sister and sons thwacked the trees with sticks and rakes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 28, 2024
When Neil Wagner tried to bounce him, Brook cleared the front leg and thwacked the ball away, baseball-style.
From BBC ● Feb. 23, 2023
Russian jets streaked overhead and helicopters thwacked ominously.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 30, 2022
Jackie thwacked her forehead and said she couldn’t believe she’d never thought of that before.
From "Wish" by Barbara O'Connor
Once, the frenetic thwacking of flippers was the peak of manic childhood glee.
From Salon ● Jun. 18, 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
Elsewhere we hear knives thwacking against cutting boards, pans rattling across stoves, onions sizzling in pans and the ticking of the clock that signals the start of service.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 6, 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
She struts up and down the stage, her heels making a distinct thwacking noise with each step.
From "Dumplin'" by Julie Murphy
Definitions 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.
