whoosh
Americannoun
-
whooshes
plural
verb (used without object)
-
whooshes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
whooshed,
past participle, past
-
whooshing
present participle
verb (used with object)
-
whooshes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
whooshed,
past participle, past
-
whooshing
present participle
noun
-
a hissing or rushing sound
-
a rush of emotion
a whoosh of happiness
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
whooshsimple
-
whooshessimple
-
have whooshedperfect
-
has whooshedperfect
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am whooshingprogressive
-
are whooshingprogressive
-
is whooshingprogressive
-
have been whooshingperfect progressive
-
has been whooshingperfect progressive
Past
-
whooshedsimple
-
had whooshedperfect
-
was whooshingprogressive
-
were whooshingprogressive
-
had been whooshingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of whoosh
First recorded in 1840–50; imitative
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:
“We are not seeing a big whoosh in the economy. We are seeing a strengthening recovery. It’s a cyclical recovery that is eating away at spare capacity from a cyclical low point,” Conway said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 20, 2026
The sling whips over the top with a whoosh.
From Slate ● Jul. 7, 2025
Their breathing, sharp and drawn out with the occasional whoosh, mirrored the rise and fall of their limbs.
From New York Times ● Apr. 4, 2024
The bottles, filled with a whoosh of this natural mineral water, are labeled, packed into cases and placed inside a truck for a long ride.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 20, 2023
Row after row, blades whoosh, scratching, lifting, overturning dirt and roots.
From "Will’s Race for Home" by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Prescient stock picks and whooshes of inflows have vaulted its assets under management to more than $20 billion, people familiar with the matter said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 8, 2026
Within five milliseconds of that contact, the spinning blade comes to a dramatic brake, and the blade whooshes below the table.
From BBC ● May 11, 2026
It’s common for tires to blow out in a fire, with pressure building until the air whooshes out with a loud pop.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2024
Its whooshes seep into the room, neatly complementing the motion of a computer-animated, widescreen video projection, “Lightscape of the Silence.”
From Washington Post ● Apr. 21, 2023
I always thought of her as one of those people who suddenly whooshes into being at the sound of the first bell in the morning, and winks out again when the clock strikes three-thirty.
From "Ungifted" by Gordon Korman
In Asia, Seoul stocks whooshed 75 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index bounced 28 percent and Tokyo's Nikkei 225 rocketed more than 26 percent.
From Barron's ● Jan. 2, 2026
Enterprise, the iconic starship that whooshed through the stars in the opening credits of the 1960s TV series “Star Trek” but had mysteriously disappeared around 45 years ago.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 10, 2024
Edgar Allan Poe, for example, wrote a short story about a comet passing close to Earth, extracting all the nitrogen from our atmosphere as it whooshed past.
From Salon ● Oct. 8, 2023
We whooshed down toward the earth and back up again.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 14, 2023
Its electric doors whooshed open and a glut of passengers spilled out.
From "Hollow City" by Ransom Riggs
People often describe it as ringing, buzzing, hissing, or whooshing in one or both ears.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 10, 2026
Meanwhile, a Lego helicopter made whooshing sounds when moved or rotated, with its Smart Brick lighting up red upon crashing.
From BBC ● Jan. 6, 2026
The car in hand—the Karma Revero, a plug-in hybrid luxury GT, built in Riverside County, Calif.—surged beneath me, producing an otherworldly whooshing as it did.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2025
That lemon drop was a stunt in itself: made with lots of swirling and pouring and whooshing about, yet somehow simultaneously effortless.
From Seattle Times ● May 21, 2024
She heard the air whooshing into the big bellows in the forge and the practice tap for range of hammer on anvil.
From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
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.
