Meaning & use
a flogger
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
A person who whips someone as a punishment, or a tool made for whipping.
Grammar: Countable: say a flogger, two floggers, the flogger.
Patterns
- a flogger of someone
- use a flogger on someone
In the story, a flogger punished the sailors for disobeying.
The museum case holds a leather flogger once used in the navy.
nouncountable
A whip with several knotted cords, used by some people for consensual adult role-play.
Grammar: Countable and neutral in adult contexts; it can sound shocking in ordinary conversation.
Patterns
- a leather flogger
- a flogger with several tails
The shop sells leather floggers to adult customers only.
He kept a flogger in a locked case and never showed it to guests.
Word forms
| plural | floggers |
|---|
Common combinations
- a leather flogger
- She bought a leather flogger at a specialist store.
- use a flogger on someone
- The film shows a guard using a flogger on a prisoner.
- a cat-o'-nine-tails flogger
- A cat-o'-nine-tails is a famous kind of flogger.
- a flogger's handle
- The flogger's handle was wrapped in worn cord.
Synonyms and how they differ
- whip
- Whip is the general everyday word for any long lash used to hit people or animals; flogger is narrower and often suggests a many-tailed instrument.
- lash
- Lash usually means the rope or strap part of a whip, not the whole tool, so it fits when you talk about the cord rather than the object.
- scourge
- Scourge is literary or historical and sounds far more dramatic; use flogger for a plain, factual description.
Word family
Commonly confused: a flogger or flogger? a flogger or blogger?
a flogger vs flogger
The form in the query, 'a flogger', is just this noun with an article; the dictionary headword is 'flogger'.
a flogger vs blogger
Blogger sounds very similar but means a person who writes an online blog, so check the first letter.
Practice
Which sentence uses the noun 'flogger' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Flogger' is a countable noun, so it needs an article and can be the object of 'used'. Option 2 needs the verb 'flogged', option 3 needs a past participle such as 'flogged', and option 4 wrongly uses a noun where an adjective is needed.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “a flogger”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.