"wah-wah" meaning in English

See wah-wah in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

Forms: wah wah [alternative]
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 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), wah-wah (Polish)
    Sense id: en-wah-wah-en-adj-kBI8-IcJ Categories (other): Music Topics: entertainment, lifestyle, music

Interjection

Forms: wah wah [alternative]
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, often used mockingly. Tags: Canada, US, onomatopoeic Synonyms: womp womp
    Sense id: en-wah-wah-en-intj-KnKUJnOK 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, Terms with Polish translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 18 46 17 18 Disambiguation of English onomatopoeias: 8 74 9 10 Disambiguation of English reduplicated coordinated pairs: 16 54 14 16 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 13 52 16 19 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 17 43 20 21 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 16 44 19 20 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 17 41 18 25 Disambiguation of Terms with Italian translations: 21 40 18 20 Disambiguation of Terms with Japanese translations: 15 47 16 21 Disambiguation of Terms with Polish translations: 18 44 17 22

Noun

Forms: wah-wahs [plural], wah wah [alternative]
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. Translations (wavering sound): wawa [feminine] (Italian), efekt wah-wah [masculine] (Polish)
    Sense id: en-wah-wah-en-noun-cFdpa7DS Categories (other): Music Topics: entertainment, lifestyle, music

Verb

Forms: wah-wahs [present, singular, third-person], wah-wahing [participle, present], wah-wahed [participle, past], wah-wahed [past], wah wah [alternative]
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, intransitive) To make a wah-wah sound. Tags: intransitive
    Sense id: en-wah-wah-en-verb-fVEnPPl5 Categories (other): Music Topics: entertainment, lifestyle, music

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

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      },
      "expansion": "Imitative",
      "name": "onom"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Imitative.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "wah-wahs",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "wah-wahing",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "wah-wahed",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "wah-wahed",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "wah wah",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "wah-wah (third-person singular simple present wah-wahs, present participle wah-wahing, simple past and past participle wah-wahed)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English intransitive verbs",
        "en:Music"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To make a wah-wah sound."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "music",
          "music"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(music, intransitive) To make a wah-wah sound."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "entertainment",
        "lifestyle",
        "music"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "wah-wah"
}

Download raw JSONL data for wah-wah meaning in English (7.0kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-12-23 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-12-02 using wiktextract (6fdc867 and 9905b1f). 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.