whiplash

English

Etymology

From whip +‎ lash.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈwɪpˌlæʃ/, /ˈʍɪpˌlæʃ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: whip‧lash
• Rhymes: -ɪplæʃ

Noun

whiplash (countable and uncountable, plural whiplashes)

1. (countable) The lash of a whip.
2. An injury to the upper spine connected to a violent jerk of the head in either a backward or forward or side to side direction, resembling the motion of a whip.

   Synonyms: whiplash injury, whiplash-associated disorder

   • 2026 March 18, Greg Morse, “1996 crash driving freight reforms”, in RAIL, number 1057, page 50:

     Of the nine staff in the third coach, most had been having a break, drinking tea or reading. One suffered a fractured skull, another a fractured shoulder. All were either thrown along or across the coach, sustaining cuts, bruising and whiplash injuries.

3. (figurative) An abrupt and unexpected change, or the resulting feeling of shock.

   Synonyms: switchback, zigzag course

   tonal whiplash

   • 2014, Lisa Damour, “The Emotional Whiplash of Parenting a Teenager”, in Motherlode: Adventures In Parenting‎^[1]:

     Some parents, feeling too hurt by the push-off or taking their teenager’s rejections too personally, choose to make themselves unavailable. In some ways it does feel better to avoid episodes of emotional whiplash.

   • 2021, Sheryl Gay Stolberg, Michael D. Shear, “Americans Suffer Pandemic Whiplash as Leaders Struggle With Changing Virus”, in The New York Times‎^[2]:

     A week of public health reversals from the White House and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has left Americans with pandemic whiplash, sowing confusion about coronavirus vaccines and mask-wearing as the Delta variant upends what people thought they knew about how to stay safe.

   • 2023 March 31, Kevin Roose, “Google C.E.O. Sundar Pichai on the A.I. Moment: ‘You Will See Us Be Bold’”, in The New York Times‎^[3], →ISSN:

     And he talked about the “whiplash” he often feels when it comes to A.I. these days, as some people urge companies like Google to move faster on A.I., release more products and take bigger risks, while others urge them to slow down and be more cautious.

Usage notes

The exact cause of the medical condition and how doctors determine its diagnosis are still debated. Because of this, it is often unclear whether the symptoms can be directly linked to the actions of the responsible parties.

Translations

lash of a whip

• Catalan: fuetada f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 鞭打 (zh) (biāndǎ)

• Danish: piskesmæld
• Dutch: zweepslag (nl)
• Finnish: piiskanisku
• French: coup de fouet (fr) m
• German: Peitschenriemen (de) m
• Irish: lasc fuipe f
• Italian: colpo (it) m di (it) frusta (it) f
• Japanese: むち打ち (muchiuchi)
• Norwegian: piskeslag
• Polish: raz (pl) m
• Portuguese: chicotada (pt) f
• Russian: реме́нь кнута́ m (reménʹ knutá), бечева́ плети́ f (bečevá pletí)
• Spanish: latigazo (es) m
• Swedish: pisksnärt (sv) c

whiplash injury

• Bulgarian: камшичен удар m (kamšičen udar)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 揮鞭傷 / 挥鞭伤 (huībiānshāng)

• Danish: piskesmæld n, piskesmældslæsion c
• Dutch: whiplash (nl) c
• Finnish: piiskaniskuvamma (fi), niskan retkahdusvamma
• French: coup du lapin (fr) m (informal), traumatisme cervical m (formal)
• German: Schleudertrauma (de) n, Halswirbelsäulenschleudertrauma n, HWS-Schleudertrauma n, Halswirbelsäulen-Distorsion f, HWS-Distorsion f, Distorsion der Halswirbelsäule f, Schleudertrauma der Halswirbelsäule n
• Irish: fuiplasc f
• Italian: colpo di frusta m
• Norwegian: nakkesleng
• Polish: uraz biczowy m, uraz biczowaty m
• Portuguese: lesão em chicote f
• Russian: хлыстова́я тра́вма (ru) f (xlystovája trávma)
• Spanish: latigazo cervical m, traumatismo cervical m
• Swedish: whiplashskada (sv) c, pisksnärtsskada (sv) c
• Turkish: kamçı yaralanması

(figurative) abrupt and unexpected change

• German: Schleudertrauma (de) n, Achterbahnfahrt f (emotional whiplash)

Verb

whiplash (third-person singular simple present whiplashes, present participle whiplashing, simple past and past participle whiplashed)

1. To jerk back and forth; to buffet.
   • 2008 December 23, Nicholas Confessore, “Resistance to Kennedy Grows among Democrats”, in The New York Times‎^[4]:

     […] Ms. Kennedy has been whiplashed by assertions that she is at once protected and presumptuous.

2. To lash as if with a whip.
   • 1990, V.C. Andrews, My Sweet Audrina‎^[5], →ISBN, page 98:

     After a while, he let go of my hand in order to protect his own face from being whiplashed by the low branches.

Swedish

Noun

whiplash c

1. a whiplash injury

   Synonyms: whiplashskada, pisksnärtsskada

Declension

Declension of whiplash

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	whiplash	whiplashs
	definite	whiplashen	whiplashens
plural	indefinite	—	—
	definite	—	—

References

• “whiplash”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “whiplash”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• “whiplash”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)