Finger-wag

noun, verb

noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The movement of the index finger horizontally back and forth, as to say no or reject something.
  2. 2
    The movement of the index finger repeatedly up and down, as to threaten or reprimand someone.
Verb
  1. 1
    To move the index finger horizontally back and forth, as to say no or reject something.
  2. 2
    To move the index finger repeatedly up and down, as to threaten or reprimand someone.

    "For these and other reasons, I disagree with reecent critiques of the film, such as Matt Novak's finger-wagging thinkpiece, "Idiocracy Is a Cruel Movie and You Should Be Ashamed for Liking It." (2014)"

Example

More examples

"For these and other reasons, I disagree with reecent critiques of the film, such as Matt Novak's finger-wagging thinkpiece, "Idiocracy Is a Cruel Movie and You Should Be Ashamed for Liking It." (2014)"

Etymology

From finger + wag.

Related phrases

finger-wagging

More for "finger-wag"

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.