whump

American

[hwuhmp, wuhmp] / ʰwʌmp, wʌmp /

noun

thump.

whump British

/ wʌmp /

noun

informal a dull thud

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of whump

First recorded in 1925–30; 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.

But what had that sound been, the whump?

From Slate • Jul. 22, 2025

He was denounced by the hyper-activists and then, whump, the crunch came.

From Washington Post • Jul. 28, 2020

Suddenly, the canoe hurtled downward in the furrowed water, and there was an unexpected whump as we bottomed out.

From New York Times • Nov. 12, 2015

There was some craft in the way he went about dismembering the carcasses of the opposition's bowling attacks: whump, down came the cleaver, and off went the ball.

From The Guardian • Jan. 22, 2013

She disappeared right out of her clothes, and her cloak, suddenly empty, collapsed onto the pavement with an airy whump.

From "Hollow City" by Ransom Riggs

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023