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
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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:
"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
As four astronauts whiz toward a flyby of the Moon, looking out for them are mission control experts using cutting-edge technology and lessons learned from the Apollo program 50 years ago.
From Barron's ● Apr. 4, 2026
The ad, titled “Good Will Dunkin’,” featured Affleck as the original brainy Boston math whiz, who happens to work at Dunkin’ and arranges a display of Munchkins in a Fibonacci sequence.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 9, 2026
For the first coaching hire in more than a decade, the Seahawks were convinced that 36-year-old defensive whiz Mike Macdonald could return them to the top of the sport.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 5, 2026
I speak twenty languages, living and dead; I’m a mathematical whiz, and I’m writing a piano concerto that will make them remember me long after I’m gone.
From "Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes
More than 60,000 Wall Street Journal readers tested their knowledge against high-school personal-finance whizzes this week.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
“The History of Concrete” is about the history of concrete — he’s not kidding about that — but as ever, his expedition whizzes the audience from one unexpected pit stop to another.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 21, 2026
The actual act of mining involves computer whizzes trying to solve a numerical puzzle; the first miner to solve it gets the newly created Bitcoin.
From Slate ● Mar. 28, 2025
I'm not sure if it's more alarming that he said it or that the Times and the allegedly sophisticated financial whizzes in the audience all thought it was charming and reassuring.
From Salon ● Oct. 16, 2024
A logging truck whizzes past me, and I squint to block the spray of icy slush it kicks up from the road.
From "The Benefits of Being an Octopus" by Ann Braden
Svetnoy has said the bullet whizzed past his head and “narrowly missed him,” according to the gaffer’s suit.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 17, 2026
But he had not accounted for those Sunderland-supporting runners who were not so thrilled to see him as they whizzed past.
From BBC ● Dec. 14, 2025
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
Then a bee whizzed past Enoch’s nose and buried its stinger in the haunches of the woman sitting astride him, and she squealed and leapt up.
From "Hollow City" by Ransom Riggs
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
Ms. Gionfriddo writes tartly funny dialogue that stings and surprises, with tangy quips and savage retorts whizzing through the air, giving a buoyancy even to scenes that occasionally stretch past their necessary length.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 7, 2026
Magnets cause these whizzing electrons to lose some energy in the form of X-rays, and these are directed off from the ring in beamlines so that they may be used to analyse materials, for example.
From BBC ● Dec. 11, 2025
But there is a long way to go before flying cars are whizzing through the air every day.
From Barron's ● Nov. 30, 2025
Click went the machine, and the whizzer stopped whizzing.
From "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" by Roald Dahl
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.
