wham

American  

[hwam, wam] / ʰwæm, wæm /

noun

whams plural

1. a loud sound produced by an explosion or sharp impact.

   the wham of a pile driver.

2. a forcible impact.

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interjection

1. (used as an exclamation suggestive of a loud slam, blow, or the like.)

verb (used with or without object)

whams, present (3rd person singular) whammed, past participle, past whamming present participle

1. to hit or make a forcible impact, especially one producing a loud sound.

   The boat whammed into the dock.

   He whammed the door shut.

adverb

1. Also abruptly; with startling suddenness.

   The car ran wham up against the building.

wham British  

/ wæm /

noun

1. a forceful blow or impact or the sound produced by such a blow or impact

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interjection

1. an exclamation imitative of this sound

verb

1. to strike or cause to strike with great force

Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• whams
  plural

Participles

• whamming
  present
• whammed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• wham
  simple
• whams
  simple
• have whammed
  perfect
• has whammed
  perfect
• am whamming
  progressive
• are whamming
  progressive
• is whamming
  progressive
• have been whamming
  perfect progressive
• has been whamming
  perfect progressive

Past

• whammed
  simple
• had whammed
  perfect
• was whamming
  progressive
• were whamming
  progressive
• had been whamming
  perfect progressive

Future

• will wham
  simple
• will have whammed
  perfect
• will be whamming
  progressive
• will have been whamming
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of wham

First recorded in 1730–40; imitative

Example Sentences

“Stacked up, big storm after big storm after big storm — wham, wham, wham.”

From Seattle Times • Mar. 20, 2023

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

When players make long passes, the puck doesn’t jangle as much, but then — wham!

From Washington Post • Feb. 5, 2018

She turned the corner the same time I did, and wham!

From "A Good Kind of Trouble" by Lisa Moore Ramée