whammy

[ wam-ee, hwam-ee ]
See synonyms for whammy on Thesaurus.com
noun,plural wham·mies.Informal.
  1. 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.

  2. bad luck or misfortune.

  1. Often the wham·my . the evil eye; jinx.

Idioms about whammy

  1. 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

1
First recorded in 1935–40; wham + -y2, after a method of jinxing someone by striking the fist into the palm

Words Nearby whammy

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How to use whammy in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for whammy

whammy

/ (ˈwæmɪ) /


nounplural -mies
  1. something which has great, often negative, impact: the double whammy of high interest rates and low wage increases

  2. an evil spell or curse: she was convinced he had put the whammy on her

Origin of whammy

1
C20: wham + -y ²

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012