Flailing
adj, noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A flailing action or motion.
"The drowning man's flailings soon attracted the lifeguard's attention."
- 1 present participle and gerund of flail form-of, gerund, participle, present
- 1 Having a lack of coordination, control, or successful outcome.
"A flailing economy has left the country exposed to hyperinflation."
Example
More examples"Lisbon was a fascinating visit for me. The old city was teeming with immigrants from Africa, Brazil, and Macau. An African-looking asked for directions, but I said in basic Portuguese, "Não falo português" (I don't speak Portuguese). He said, "Não?" (No?). With my family, I ate at Pizza Hut or Domino's Pizza a pizza loaded with onions. There were antique buildings galore. The sidewalks were laden with red bricks. A tube man, a skydancer, flailing about was a memorable sight in the evening."
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.