whipsaw
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
-
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)
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 market has been hit by whipsaw moves, underscoring how investors are struggling to price in the financial implications of the geopolitical shock.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 4, 2026
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was up 0.2%, with tech stock swings making the HS Tech index whipsaw.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 3, 2026
In the near term, precious metals could see more volatile price action, with whipsaw moves likely to be driven by positioning and thin liquidity rather than a fundamental narrative, Sucden Financial writes in a note.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 30, 2025
This has left stocks to whipsaw as investors search for signals and find only noise from trade tensions, AI trends—and now bank stresses.
From Barron's ● Oct. 17, 2025
Shore, that felon Yuba begins to assoome in my apprehensions the stern teachers of a whipsaw.
From Wolfville Nights by Lewis, Alfred Henry
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
And on a structural level, the storytelling of “IF” itself is a mess: a heartfelt but dramatically inert endeavor that whipsaws between tones ranging from whimsical to morose.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 17, 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 Poe, Clarence Hamilton
Tuesday’s ruling whipsawed France’s political establishment, which had been preparing for a realignment of the country’s political order in the event the ban was upheld.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026
Prices whipsawed Thursday after Iran attacked a Singapore-flagged cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
Incumbent software companies—recently whipsawed by the market—are facing pressure to prove they can stay a step ahead of AI coding tools that threaten to replicate their products.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 9, 2026
Energy markets have whipsawed this week as investors parse the chances of an agreement 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 Cameron, Agnes Deans
More than a year of whipsawing tariff policy has caused dramatic swings in U.S. trade flows—but so far, little fundamental change in America’s identity as a major net importer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 9, 2026
“We believe it also helps explain why narrative risk…has been whipsawing individual names more violently this year.”
From Barron's ● Apr. 28, 2026
It’s this market whipsawing that American and global investors are growing tired of.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 26, 2026
The past few weeks of stock market whipsawing have been a gut check for internet communities that swelled in numbers during the usually excellent markets of the past five years.
From Slate ● Mar. 17, 2025
He began whipsawing lumber, but after disablement from a gunpowder explosion he found lighter employment in keeping a billiard room.
From American Negro Slavery A Survey of the Supply, Employment and Control of Negro Labor as Determined by the Plantation Regime by Phillips, Ulrich Bonnell
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.
