whammy
Americannoun
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whammies
plural
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a devastating blow, setback, or catastrophe.
The drought and the high price of fertilizer are a double whammy to farmers.
The big whammy will be the coming update, which could make our software nonfunctional.
-
bad luck or misfortune.
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Often the whammy the evil eye; jinx.
idioms
noun
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something which has great, often negative, impact
the double whammy of high interest rates and low wage increases
-
an evil spell or curse
she was convinced he had put the whammy on her
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of whammy
First recorded in 1935–40; wham + -y 2, after a method of jinxing someone by striking the fist into the palm
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:
For hospitals, uninsured patients bring a financial double whammy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
When her daughter, Valentine, was born, “it was a double whammy of like, who are you and what are you offering this world?”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
Quantum stocks, more volatile than the broader market, endured Friday’s double whammy.
From Barron's ● Jun. 5, 2026
"It's a triple whammy for airlines at the moment," said Tim Jeans, a former commercial director for Ryanair.
From BBC ● Apr. 23, 2026
Doug got the triple whammy: glasses, braces, pimples.
From "Eleven" by Tom Rogers
Conditioning skates, wind sprints, whammies, two-and-a-halfs, bag skates — many names for the basic, infamous drill where one goes up and down the ice at high speed.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 25, 2022
The list begins with two whammies: no poverty and zero hunger.
From Slate ● Aug. 16, 2019
As deeply serious as it is deeply funny, “Get Out” is perfectly timed to jolt audiences out of their midwinter blahs, delivering classic genre whammies with a generous serving of cultural critique.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 23, 2017
There are other whammies probably that I haven’t mentioned.
From The New Yorker ● Dec. 21, 2015
“Actually, as many whammies as you could come up with.”
From New York Times ● Dec. 29, 2012
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.
