name
Meaning 1
A surname.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
flack
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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/flæk/
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Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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rhymes with -æk
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homophone: flak
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CMU ARPABET: F L AE1 K Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
noun
Meaning 2
A publicist, a publicity agent.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Canada, US
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
Alternative spelling of flak.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: alt-of, alternative, countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 4
To flutter; palpitate.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive, obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 5
To hang loosely; flag.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: UK, dialectal, intransitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 6
To beat by flapping.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: UK, dialectal, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 7
To publicise, to promote.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Canada, US
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 8
artillery designed to shoot upward at airplanes
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: antiaircraft, antiaircraft gun, flak, pom-pom, ack-ack, ack-ack gun
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: gun
Narrower terms: Bofors gun
noun
Meaning 9
intense adverse criticism
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- Clinton directed his fire at the Republican Party
- the government has come under attack
- don't give me any flak
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: fire, attack, flak, blast
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: criticism, unfavorable judgment
noun
Meaning 10
a slick spokesperson who can turn any criticism to the advantage of their employer
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: flak catcher, flak, flack catcher
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: spokesperson, interpreter, representative, voice
History
Etymology
From Middle English flack (“sod, turf”); see flag (sense 4).
Most likely flak.
Variant of flak.
From Middle English flacken (“to palpitate, flutter”), from Old English *flaccian, from Proto-West Germanic *flakkōn, from Proto-Germanic *flakkōną (“to beat”), from Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ-, which could be related to Ancient Greek πλάζω (plázō, “to turn away from”). Akin to Middle Dutch vlacken (“to flicker, flash, sparkle”), Danish flakke (“to wander”), Swedish flacka (“to rove, rove about, ramble”), Icelandic flakka (“to move”). Compare also Icelandic flaka (“to flap, hang loose”), Swedish flaxa (“to flap, flutter”).