whipsaw
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
-
whipsaws,
present (3rd person singular)
-
whipsawed,
past
-
whipsawn,
past participle
-
whipsawing
present participle
-
to cut with a whipsaw.
-
to win two bets from (a person) at one turn or play, as at faro.
-
to subject to two opposing forces at the same time.
The real-estate market has been whipsawed by high interest rates and unemployment.
verb (used without object)
-
whipsaws,
present (3rd person singular)
-
whipsawed,
past
-
whipsawn,
past participle
-
whipsawing
present participle
noun
verb
-
to saw with a whipsaw
-
to defeat in two ways at once
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
whipsawsimple
-
whipsawssimple
-
have whipsawnperfect
-
has whipsawnperfect
-
am whipsawingprogressive
-
are whipsawingprogressive
-
is whipsawingprogressive
-
have been whipsawingperfect progressive
-
has been whipsawingperfect progressive
Past
-
whipsawedsimple
-
had whipsawnperfect
-
was whipsawingprogressive
-
were whipsawingprogressive
-
had been whipsawingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of whipsaw
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:
The weekend brought another stretch of whipsaw headlines for traders, starting Saturday when President Trump announced the near “finalization” of a pact with Iran that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 25, 2026
“While this upside move is very welcome, the whipsaw of markets is certainly unsettling for investors.”
From Barron's ● Mar. 23, 2026
“We don’t like to whipsaw these programs up or down,” ConocoPhillips Chief Executive Ryan Lance told analysts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 4, 2026
Officials have long warned that continued climate change could whipsaw California between precipitation extremes, with the state trending toward aridity, interspersed with exceptionally wet years.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 5, 2025
She was looking over her well-covered shoulder with eyes that were everywhere at once, and giving orders in a voice that was as shrill as a whipsaw and as quick as a mill-race.
From The Disturbing Charm by Berta Ruck
Investors have continued to rotate money into international equities, with European and emerging-market funds drawing steady inflows even as U.S. tech whipsaws.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 25, 2026
This is our shortest-term indicator and is thus subject to whipsaws, but it is negative now.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 5, 2026
A Santa rally is not guaranteed, and if 2025 has taught investors anything—with whipsaws from tariffs, artificial intelligence, and more—it is to expect the unexpected.
From Barron's ● Dec. 22, 2025
Berlant, a gifted physical comic who whipsaws between over-the-top grandeur and abject awkwardness, introduces her situations with a wink — and even the winks are delivered in quotation marks.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 24, 2024
No sawmills in the Orient, but thousands of men laboriously converting logs into lumber by means of whipsaws.
From Where Half The World Is Waking Up The Old and the New in Japan, China, the Philippines, and India, Reported With Especial Reference to American Conditions by Clarence Hamilton Poe
Major U.S. indexes whipsawed this week on a grab bag of related anxieties, from soaring oil prices to outsize AI spending and the capital required to foot that bill.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026
April 2025 was an example of when systematic strategies were whipsawed by an abrupt change of direction for risk assets.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 7, 2026
The bill would also establish clear market structure rules that provide regulatory certainty for investors and banks so they don’t have to worry about being whipsawed by the whims of a future administration.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
Oil markets have whipsawed this week as investors parse the chances of a breakthrough agreement between Washington and Tehran that could potentially resume normal shipping through the crucial Strait of Hormuz.
From Barron's ● May 29, 2026
After the service, as the remaining worshippers gathered outside the church, news whipsawed through the crowd that North Korean troops had crossed the 38th parallel.
From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau
The steamer Grahame was built at Chipewyan of whipsawn lumber, and much of her steel and ironwork was wrought on Wyllie's forge.
From The New North by Agnes Deans Cameron
This was the beginning of a whipsawing that continues to this day, roiling a corner of the S&P 500.
From Slate ● Oct. 27, 2026
But an extra day when little else is trading—at a time when breaking news from the Middle East is whipsawing markets —is a chance for Bitcoin to shine.
From Barron's ● Apr. 3, 2026
It’s this market whipsawing that American and global investors are growing tired of.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 26, 2026
India’s deal with Europe was a direct response to U.S. tariffs on India whipsawing from 26% to 50% and finally back to 18% in less than a year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 26, 2026
The filing completed, there was ample work in the way of getting out and whipsawing timber to keep the five men busy till spring—the five who were on the ground.
From North of Fifty-Three by Anton Otto Fischer
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