whammy
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.
Often the wham·my . the evil eye; jinx.
Idioms about whammy
put the whammy on, Informal.
to give the evil eye to; jinx.
to destroy, end, or eradicate: New controls will put the whammy on irresponsible spending.
Origin of whammy
1Words Nearby whammy
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use whammy in a sentence
In a one-two punch, a malaria vaccine in development pairs a shot of the live parasite that causes the disease with a whammy of infection-fighting drugs to immediately quell it.
A malaria vaccine with live parasites shows promise in a small trial | Erin Garcia de Jesús | June 30, 2021 | Science NewsNepal is facing a double whammy of disastrous infection rates and depleting vaccine stocks.
Modi Never Bought Enough COVID-19 Vaccines for India. Now the Whole World Is Paying | Debasish Roy Chowdhury | May 28, 2021 | TimeCalifornia’s kelp forests, which provide a rich habitat for marine organisms, got hit by a double whammy of ecological disasters in the past decade, says UC Santa Cruz ecologist Mark Carr.
How kelp forests off California are responding to an urchin takeover | Anushree Dave | March 29, 2021 | Science NewsThis week, I was dealing with the double whammy of having just returned home after some time away to a mostly empty fridge.
I love being able to sing for my job and it’s my passion too, so it’s a double whammy.
Who can forget in 2012 the double whammy of GOP Senate candidates comments about rape?
How Long Can the Republicans Hide The Crazy? | Dean Obeidallah | September 20, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST“The double whammy of those two set me on a course of thinking about issues I had never done before,” Sherwood told the Times.
Privilege and Power: The Rise and Rise of Ben Sherwood | Lloyd Grove | March 26, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTFor stores like Walmart, which sells groceries and other goods to the same customers, the food-stamp cut will be a double-whammy.
Why new cuts will be a double whammy for Bentonville—and anyone with a mutual fund.
This “double whammy” of predation and competition enables jellyfish to cripple a food chain by essentially nibbling at its ankles.
Beware at the Beach, the Jellyfish Rule the Seas and It’s Our Fault | Lisa-ann Gershwin | June 20, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTThis time they ain't none of them screwy Venusians to put the whammy on him, and he's doing okay.
Hoiman and the Solar Circuit | Gordon Dewey
British Dictionary definitions for whammy
/ (ˈwæmɪ) /
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
Origin of whammy
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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