wack

¹

Also whack

[wak]

noun

1. an odd, irrational, or unconventional person; wacko.

2. a thing or things that are unsatisfactory, worthless, or of low quality.

   The show is mostly a lot of wack, with a couple of funny moments.

adjective

1. extremely bad or inferior.

   The song is great, but the video is really wack.

2. odd, irrational, or unconventional; wacky.

   I’m afraid the neighbors think we’re wack!

3. extremely good.

   The guys scarfed down those wack cookies you made, and they're asking for more.

wack

²

[wak]

verb (used with or without object)

1. whack.

wack

/ wæk, ˈwækə /

noun

1. dialect,  friend; pal: used chiefly as a term of address

Word History and Origins

Origin of wack¹

First recorded in 1935–40; perhaps back formation from wacky; popularized in 1986 from the anti-crack mural by the U.S. pop artist Keith Haring (1958–90), which bore the slogan “Crack is wack”

Word History and Origins

Origin of wack¹

perhaps from dialect wack or whack to share out, hence one who shares, a friend

Example Sentences

The band are drip-feeding fans remixes of songs from their breakthrough mixtape, Full Wack No Breaks.

Read more on BBC

Cross-species communication plays a part in “The Experiment,” “Zip Zap Wickety Wack” and “If We Were Dogs.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The partnership makes a little more sense when you put it in the context of promoting a contest called “Hack Is Wack,” which asked creators to submit two-minute rap videos on cybersecurity threats — think hacking, identity-theft viruses and the like.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Federal prosecutors claim that Mangione kept a notebook that “describes an intent to ‘wack’ the CEO of one of the insurance companies at its investor conference” and that Mangione targeted Thompson to make a statement about U.S. medical insurance.

Read more on Salon

Ernest Dukes, who represents Babyface, shared a clip of the gaffe on his Instagram story, writing “bring back professionalism” and calling the AP reporters’ behavior “beyond wack” and “beyond disrespectful.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• character 
• identity 
• personality