whiz
1 Americanverb (used without object)
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whizzes,
present (3rd person singular)
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whizzed,
past participle, past
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whizzing
present participle
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to make a humming, buzzing, or hissing sound, as an object passing swiftly through the air.
-
to move or rush with such a sound.
The angry hornets whizzed by in a cloud.
verb (used with object)
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whizzes,
present (3rd person singular)
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whizzed,
past participle, past
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whizzing
present participle
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to cause to whiz.
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to treat with a whizzer.
noun
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Informal. a person who is quite good at a particular activity, in a certain field, etc..
She's a whiz at math.
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the sound of a whizzing object.
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a swift movement producing such a sound.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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whizsimple
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whizzessimple
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have whizzedperfect
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has whizzedperfect
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am whizzingprogressive
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are whizzingprogressive
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is whizzingprogressive
-
have been whizzingperfect progressive
-
has been whizzingperfect progressive
Past
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whizzedsimple
-
had whizzedperfect
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was whizzingprogressive
-
were whizzingprogressive
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had been whizzingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of whiz1
1540–50; imitative; cf. fizz
Origin of whiz2
By shortening
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:
Varadhan has long been the firm’s markets and trading whiz while Nachmann is about four years into repositioning and expanding the firm’s asset and wealth management division, a priority for the firm.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026
It’s reassuring that you don’t necessarily need to be an AI whiz to up your earnings.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026
"It's not suddenly going to whiz past and you'll miss it. It's worth waiting around just in case the clouds move on."
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026
A giant atrium was planned inside the structure where hologram images of spaceships and floating boulders whiz by visitors.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 6, 2026
We stopped at a freeway overpass, and we just stood there for a minute, watchin’ the cars whiz under us.
From "Tears of a Tiger" by Sharon M. Draper
Traders like Perkins are known for being math whizzes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 26, 2026
Across two hours, Buckley’s Bride shoots, kicks, contorts, dances, scrapes, whizzes, licks and screams, all the while coming no closer to her true self than she was at the start of the film.
From Salon ● Mar. 8, 2026
That is part of the lifeblood of the state’s culture, cuisine, commerce and sense of possibility, and those students are now our teachers, nurses, physicians, engineers, entrepreneurs and tech whizzes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 27, 2025
"It is an intense period of work and is over far too quickly as the festival whizzes by," he added.
From BBC ● Jun. 27, 2025
The ball whizzes by so fast I don't even have a chance to swing this time.
From "You Bring the Distant Near" by Mitali Perkins
Those good vibes were on display when Son’s shot whizzed between two defenders and the outstretched arms of Galaxy goalkeeper Novak Micovic.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 2026
We made it to the top, whizzed down the other side, passed the test—and passed it again and again, all the way across the country, through the agonizingly steep hills of western Maine.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 8, 2025
There, people whizzed by while holding the horn.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 21, 2024
That same year, feeling restless, he whizzed off to Washington to work for Mr. Kissinger in the State Department.
From New York Times ● Jun. 17, 2024
The quill whizzed across the parchment between them, back and forward as though it were skating.
From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling
It was very likely caused by the whiplash he’s endured by tracking all of those line drives whizzing past his ear.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026
Finding more of them could help scientists "understand how galaxies form and how many black holes are whizzing around," Stein said.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 6, 2026
The pair continued to go toe-to-toe, but when the tie-break arrived it was Zverev who raised the intensity, whizzing through seven points without reply to take the opener.
From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026
Crowds winded through greenways and walking trails, processing through thin paths in single-file lines and dodging annoyed runners and whizzing bikers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 14, 2026
Then he says the magic words, and, presto change-o...his thoughts come whizzing back across the Bonecruel Mountains.
From "The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge" by M.T. Anderson and Eugene Yelchin
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.
