"wah-wah" meaning in English

See wah-wah in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

Etymology: Imitative. Etymology templates: {{onom|en|title=Imitative}} Imitative Head templates: {{en-adj|-}} wah-wah (not comparable)
  1. (music) Modifying the resonance of musical notes to produce the effect of a human voice. Tags: not-comparable Categories (topical): Music Derived forms: wah-wah pedal Translations (modifying the resonance of musical notes to produce the effect of a human voice): wah-wah (French), ワウ (wau) (Japanese)
    Sense id: en-wah-wah-en-adj-kBI8-IcJ Topics: entertainment, lifestyle, music

Interjection

Etymology: Imitative. Etymology templates: {{onom|en|title=Imitative}} Imitative Head templates: {{head|en|interjection}} wah-wah
  1. (US, Canada, onomatopoeia) The sad trombone sound, used to indicate failure or disappointment. May be used mockingly; also written wah wah and womp womp. Tags: Canada, US, onomatopoeic
    Sense id: en-wah-wah-en-intj-BjduLrkX Categories (other): American English, Canadian English, English onomatopoeias, English entries with incorrect language header, English onomatopoeias, English reduplicated coordinated pairs, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with French translations, Terms with Italian translations, Terms with Japanese translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 20 56 19 4 Disambiguation of English onomatopoeias: 10 77 9 4 Disambiguation of English reduplicated coordinated pairs: 16 62 15 7 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 16 60 16 8 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 22 48 21 9 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 20 57 19 4 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 19 48 19 14 Disambiguation of Terms with Italian translations: 19 56 17 8 Disambiguation of Terms with Japanese translations: 19 56 17 8

Noun

Forms: wah-wahs [plural]
Etymology: Imitative. Etymology templates: {{onom|en|title=Imitative}} Imitative Head templates: {{en-noun}} wah-wah (plural wah-wahs)
  1. (music) A wavering sound produced by means of a movable mute or by electronic means Categories (topical): Music Translations (wavering sound): wawa [feminine] (Italian)
    Sense id: en-wah-wah-en-noun-LyBOBdH5 Topics: entertainment, lifestyle, music

Verb

Forms: wah-wahs [present, singular, third-person], wah-wahing [participle, present], wah-wahed [participle, past], wah-wahed [past]
Etymology: Imitative. Etymology templates: {{onom|en|title=Imitative}} Imitative Head templates: {{en-verb}} wah-wah (third-person singular simple present wah-wahs, present participle wah-wahing, simple past and past participle wah-wahed)
  1. (music) to make a wah-wah sound Categories (topical): Music
    Sense id: en-wah-wah-en-verb-EKhWpCCx Topics: entertainment, lifestyle, music

Inflected forms

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      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "title": "Imitative"
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  "lang_code": "en",
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            "Sound",
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            "Society",
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            "All topics",
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      ],
      "derived": [
        {
          "word": "wah-wah pedal"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Modifying the resonance of musical notes to produce the effect of a human voice."
      ],
      "id": "en-wah-wah-en-adj-kBI8-IcJ",
      "links": [
        [
          "music",
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        [
          "resonance",
          "resonance"
        ],
        [
          "note",
          "note"
        ],
        [
          "human",
          "human"
        ],
        [
          "voice",
          "voice"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(music) Modifying the resonance of musical notes to produce the effect of a human voice."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "not-comparable"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "entertainment",
        "lifestyle",
        "music"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "modifying the resonance of musical notes to produce the effect of a human voice",
          "word": "wah-wah"
        },
        {
          "code": "ja",
          "lang": "Japanese",
          "roman": "wau",
          "sense": "modifying the resonance of musical notes to produce the effect of a human voice",
          "word": "ワウ"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "wah-wah"
}

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          "_dis": "19 56 17 8",
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          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
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        "The sad trombone sound, used to indicate failure or disappointment. May be used mockingly; also written wah wah and womp womp."
      ],
      "id": "en-wah-wah-en-intj-BjduLrkX",
      "links": [
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          "onomatopoeia",
          "onomatopoeia"
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        [
          "sad trombone",
          "sad trombone#English"
        ],
        [
          "failure",
          "failure#English"
        ],
        [
          "disappointment",
          "disappointment#English"
        ],
        [
          "wah wah",
          "wah wah"
        ],
        [
          "womp womp",
          "womp womp"
        ]
      ],
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        "(US, Canada, onomatopoeia) The sad trombone sound, used to indicate failure or disappointment. May be used mockingly; also written wah wah and womp womp."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Canada",
        "US",
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  ],
  "word": "wah-wah"
}

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  "etymology_text": "Imitative.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "wah-wahs",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
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  ],
  "head_templates": [
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        "(music) A wavering sound produced by means of a movable mute or by electronic means"
      ],
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        "lifestyle",
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          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "wavering sound",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "wawa"
        }
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    }
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}

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      "form": "wah-wahs",
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        "present",
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        "third-person"
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    {
      "form": "wah-wahing",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "wah-wahed",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "wah-wahed",
      "tags": [
        "past"
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            "Society",
            "Nature",
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      ],
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        "to make a wah-wah sound"
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        "(music) to make a wah-wah sound"
      ],
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        "music"
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  ],
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        "Modifying the resonance of musical notes to produce the effect of a human voice."
      ],
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        "(music) Modifying the resonance of musical notes to produce the effect of a human voice."
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        "not-comparable"
      ],
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        "entertainment",
        "lifestyle",
        "music"
      ]
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  ],
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      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "modifying the resonance of musical notes to produce the effect of a human voice",
      "word": "wah-wah"
    },
    {
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "roman": "wau",
      "sense": "modifying the resonance of musical notes to produce the effect of a human voice",
      "word": "ワウ"
    }
  ],
  "word": "wah-wah"
}

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          "type": "quote"
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      ],
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        "The sad trombone sound, used to indicate failure or disappointment. May be used mockingly; also written wah wah and womp womp."
      ],
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          "failure",
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          "disappointment",
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        [
          "wah wah",
          "wah wah"
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          "womp womp",
          "womp womp"
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        "plural"
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  ],
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
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        "en:Music"
      ],
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        "A wavering sound produced by means of a movable mute or by electronic means"
      ],
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        [
          "music",
          "music"
        ],
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          "wavering",
          "wavering"
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        [
          "sound",
          "sound"
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        [
          "mute",
          "mute"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(music) A wavering sound produced by means of a movable mute or by electronic means"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "entertainment",
        "lifestyle",
        "music"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "wavering sound",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "wawa"
    }
  ],
  "word": "wah-wah"
}

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    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English interjections",
    "English lemmas",
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    "English nouns",
    "English onomatopoeias",
    "English reduplicated coordinated pairs",
    "English uncomparable adjectives",
    "English verbs",
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    {
      "form": "wah-wahs",
      "tags": [
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        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "wah-wahing",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "wah-wahed",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "wah-wahed",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "wah-wah (third-person singular simple present wah-wahs, present participle wah-wahing, simple past and past participle wah-wahed)",
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    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "en:Music"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "to make a wah-wah sound"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "music",
          "music"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(music) to make a wah-wah sound"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "entertainment",
        "lifestyle",
        "music"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "wah-wah"
}

Download raw JSONL data for wah-wah meaning in English (6.1kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-31 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-20 using wiktextract (bcd5c38 and 9dbd323). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.