Meaning & use
flail
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Meanings
verbtransitive or intransitive
To wave or swing your arms or legs wildly without control.
Grammar: Used with or without an object: she flailed her arms, or he flailed in the water.
Patterns
- flail about
- flail your arms
- flail around
The toddler flailed his arms with joy in the bath.
She flailed in the water before the lifeguard reached her.
Swimmers flailed about as the wave hit.
verbintransitivefigurative
To struggle in a clumsy, ineffective way when you do not know how to cope.
Grammar: Figurative; no object, often followed by about or around.
Patterns
- flail around
- flail about
The company flailed for months after its main product failed.
Without a plan, the new manager simply flailed.
I flailed around in the first week of the job.
nouncountablespecialist
A hand tool with a swinging stick, formerly used to beat grain; also a medieval weapon with a spiked ball on a chain.
Grammar: A historical and farming noun, now rare.
The farmer separated the wheat from the husks with a flail.
The knight carried a flail instead of a sword.
A museum guard showed us how a flail was swung.
Word forms
| third person singular | flails |
|---|---|
| past tense | flailed |
| past participle | flailed |
| -ing form | flailing |
Common combinations
- flail your arms
- He flailed his arms to get the driver's attention.
- flail about
- The fish flailed about on the deck.
- flail wildly
- The player flailed wildly at the ball and missed.
- flailing limbs
- The dancer ended up in a tangle of flailing limbs.
- flail helplessly
- The beetle flailed helplessly on its back.
Synonyms and how they differ
- thrash
- Thrash suggests violent, repeated movement, often of the whole body, and can also mean to beat someone.
- flap
- Flap is lighter and usually refers to wings or cloth, while flail suggests clumsy arms or legs.
- struggle
- Struggle is the general word for hard effort and does not require wild movement.
- wave
- Wave is controlled and friendly, whereas flail is uncontrolled and often a sign of panic.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: flail or fail? flail or flair?
flail vs fail
Fail means not to succeed. Flail means to wave limbs wildly or struggle, and they differ by one letter.
flail vs flair
Flair is natural talent or style, and sounds like flare, a sudden blaze; flail has the ending -ail.
Practice
The beginner slipped on the ice and ___ his arms trying to keep his balance.
Choose one answer.
Flailed means waved wildly. Failed, flared and flayed look and sound similar but do not describe arm movements.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “flail”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.