wham
Americannoun
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whams
plural
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a loud sound produced by an explosion or sharp impact.
the wham of a pile driver.
-
a forcible impact.
interjection
verb (used with or without object)
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whams,
present (3rd person singular)
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whammed,
past participle, past
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whamming
present participle
adverb
noun
interjection
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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whamsimple
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whamssimple
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have whammedperfect
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has whammedperfect
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am whammingprogressive
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are whammingprogressive
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is whammingprogressive
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have been whammingperfect progressive
-
has been whammingperfect progressive
Past
-
whammedsimple
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had whammedperfect
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was whammingprogressive
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were whammingprogressive
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had been whammingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of wham
First recorded in 1730–40; imitative
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:
One doesn’t expect to have one’s stomach churned by such a documentary, but then — wham!
From New York Times ● Feb. 14, 2023
“And I think that’s what happens; you quit thinking about it. It’s ‘Hey, we got to figure a way to get on base,’ and all of a sudden, wham, there’s a hit.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 9, 2022
At first thought, a homemade sprinkle birthday cake seems like an easy task: Just fold a bunch of sprinkles into a vanilla cake and wham bam, you're done.
From Salon ● Jan. 26, 2022
“It just comes in, and, wham, it hits the ground,” Vago says.
From Scientific American ● Feb. 6, 2020
And just when you’d get used to that wide rushing river, you’d go around another bend and wham!
From "Ruby Holler" by Sharon Creech
Freneau has actually succeeded in making him a living creature, and his opinions and "whim whams" are full of hard sense and practical wisdom.
From The Poems of Philip Freneau, Volume I (of III) by Philip Freneau
Manchester United make six changes from the side that whammed Wigan.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 5, 2013
Suddenly a huge wave whammed her, sideslipped her into a deep sea-trough.
From Time Magazine Archive
The percussion man ran back & forth between kettle drums, cymbal and a toy drum, jangled some bells on the way, hammered a xylophone and, with evident pleasure, whammed a huge Chinese gong.
From Time Magazine Archive
Now the President rolled up his verbal shirt sleeves, whammed one segment of the U.S. press smack on the end of its nose-for-news.
From Time Magazine Archive
Spurge whammed the bottom of the box one last time, and the gem jumped out.
From "The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge" by M.T. Anderson and Eugene Yelchin
We're going through this gruelling course of him whamming and jamming on the guitar and one day he hit upon something.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 5, 2012
Now she won twelve, with a whamming overhead serve, a flashing forehand drive that made her look at least twice the Betty Nuthall that played in the U. S. two years ago.
From Time Magazine Archive
Whether I'm kicking my sorrows away in a magnificent breaststroke, slamming that anger with my tennis racket or whamming that big stress ball at batting practice, my teenage problems find an outlet.
From Time Magazine Archive
Moving to St. Louis, he opened another place, with metal tables in it, but the balls made such a noise whamming off the cushions that it got on his nerves.
From Time Magazine Archive
I seem to do most of the gorge run on my back, whamming boulders with the top of my head.
From "Woodsong" by Gary Paulsen
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.
