"wham" meaning in English

See wham in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Interjection

IPA: /wæm/, /hwæm/ (note: without the wine–whine merger) Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-wham.wav [Southern-England]
Rhymes: -æm Etymology: Onomatopoeic.
  1. The sound of a forceful blow. Translations (sound of a forceful blow): трясък (trjasǎk) [masculine] (Bulgarian), wumm (German), bum (German), bach (Polish), โครม (kroom) (Thai)
    Sense id: en-wham-en-intj-stknYm9d Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English entries with language name categories using raw markup, English onomatopoeias Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 22 32 30 2 14 Disambiguation of English entries with language name categories using raw markup: 20 27 27 2 24 Disambiguation of English onomatopoeias: 20 28 25 3 25 Disambiguation of 'sound of a forceful blow': 98 2
  2. Used to indicate something sudden, unanticipated, and dramatic has occurred.
    Sense id: en-wham-en-intj-RgVxrCWz Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English entries with language name categories using raw markup, English onomatopoeias Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 22 32 30 2 14 Disambiguation of English entries with language name categories using raw markup: 20 27 27 2 24 Disambiguation of English onomatopoeias: 20 28 25 3 25

Noun

IPA: /wæm/, /hwæm/ (note: without the wine–whine merger) Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-wham.wav [Southern-England] Forms: whams [plural]
Rhymes: -æm Etymology: Onomatopoeic. Head templates: {{en-noun}} wham (plural whams)
  1. a forceful blow
    Sense id: en-wham-en-noun-Ot8ow83s Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English entries with language name categories using raw markup, English onomatopoeias Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 22 32 30 2 14 Disambiguation of English entries with language name categories using raw markup: 20 27 27 2 24 Disambiguation of English onomatopoeias: 20 28 25 3 25
  2. the sound of such a blow; a thud Categories (topical): Sounds
    Sense id: en-wham-en-noun-b0GBGXeF Disambiguation of Sounds: 21 13 0 45 21

Verb

IPA: /wæm/, /hwæm/ (note: without the wine–whine merger) Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-wham.wav [Southern-England] Forms: whams [present, singular, third-person], whamming [participle, present], whammed [participle, past], whammed [past]
Rhymes: -æm Etymology: Onomatopoeic. Head templates: {{en-verb}} wham (third-person singular simple present whams, present participle whamming, simple past and past participle whammed)
  1. to strike or smash (into) something with great force or impact Related terms: whammy, whim-wham
    Sense id: en-wham-en-verb-5HPsK35w Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English entries with language name categories using raw markup, English onomatopoeias Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 22 32 30 2 14 Disambiguation of English entries with language name categories using raw markup: 20 27 27 2 24 Disambiguation of English onomatopoeias: 20 28 25 3 25

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for wham meaning in English (7.8kB)

{
  "etymology_text": "Onomatopoeic.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "whams",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "wham (plural whams)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "22 32 30 2 14",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "20 27 27 2 24",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with language name categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "20 28 25 3 25",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English onomatopoeias",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Roger was given a violent wham by his boxing opponent.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "a forceful blow"
      ],
      "id": "en-wham-en-noun-Ot8ow83s",
      "links": [
        [
          "forceful",
          "forceful"
        ],
        [
          "blow",
          "blow"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "21 13 0 45 21",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Sounds",
          "orig": "en:Sounds",
          "parents": [
            "Sound",
            "Energy",
            "Nature",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "We heard a wham as the hammer struck the wall.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "the sound of such a blow; a thud"
      ],
      "id": "en-wham-en-noun-b0GBGXeF",
      "links": [
        [
          "sound",
          "sound"
        ],
        [
          "thud",
          "thud"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/wæm/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/hwæm/",
      "note": "without the wine–whine merger"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-æm"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-wham.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/60/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-wham.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-wham.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/60/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-wham.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-wham.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (Southern England)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "wham"
}

{
  "etymology_text": "Onomatopoeic.",
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "intj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "22 32 30 2 14",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
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          "_dis": "20 27 27 2 24",
          "kind": "other",
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          "parents": [
            "Entries with language name categories using raw markup",
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        },
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          "_dis": "20 28 25 3 25",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English onomatopoeias",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Wham! The truck hit the wall.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1950 July 22, Ferguson Findley, “Waterfront”, in Louis Ruppel, editor, Collier's: Incorporating Features of the American Magazine, Crowell-Collier Publishing Company, page 16",
          "text": "I was off duty, minding my own business, […] when I heard a gun go off. Wham! it roared, not more than twenty feet from me, and then, in quick succession, wham—wham!",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The sound of a forceful blow."
      ],
      "id": "en-wham-en-intj-stknYm9d",
      "links": [
        [
          "sound",
          "sound#English"
        ]
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "98 2",
          "code": "bg",
          "lang": "Bulgarian",
          "roman": "trjasǎk",
          "sense": "sound of a forceful blow",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "трясък"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "98 2",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "sound of a forceful blow",
          "word": "wumm"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "98 2",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "sound of a forceful blow",
          "word": "bum"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "98 2",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "sound of a forceful blow",
          "word": "bach"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "98 2",
          "code": "th",
          "lang": "Thai",
          "roman": "kroom",
          "sense": "sound of a forceful blow",
          "word": "โครม"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "22 32 30 2 14",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
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            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
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          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "20 27 27 2 24",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with language name categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "20 28 25 3 25",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English onomatopoeias",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Our relationship was going smoothly and then wham! Out of nowhere he told me he was leaving me for another woman.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1952 September 22, “Since Stevenson Prefers 'Compromise', Foreign Policy Is Squarely in the Campaign”, in LIFE, volume 33, number 12, Time Inc., →ISSN, page 30",
          "text": "Wham! Overnight he [Dwight D. Eisenhower] became a warmonger.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008 August 5, Douglas Coupland, “40 on the Outside, 30 on the Inside: My theory of how men really age”, in Best Life, volume 5, number 6, Rodale, Inc., →ISSN, page 77",
          "text": "I'll look the exact same way for a decade, and then— wham!— God hits the progeria switch and for two years the downhill plunge begins anew.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used to indicate something sudden, unanticipated, and dramatic has occurred."
      ],
      "id": "en-wham-en-intj-RgVxrCWz",
      "links": [
        [
          "sudden",
          "sudden#English"
        ],
        [
          "unanticipated",
          "unanticipated#English"
        ],
        [
          "dramatic",
          "dramatic#English"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/wæm/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/hwæm/",
      "note": "without the wine–whine merger"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-æm"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-wham.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/60/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-wham.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-wham.wav.mp3",
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      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (Southern England)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "wham"
}

{
  "etymology_text": "Onomatopoeic.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "whams",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "whamming",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "whammed",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "whammed",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "wham (third-person singular simple present whams, present participle whamming, simple past and past participle whammed)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "22 32 30 2 14",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
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          "_dis": "20 27 27 2 24",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with language name categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
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          "_dis": "20 28 25 3 25",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English onomatopoeias",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "to strike or smash (into) something with great force or impact"
      ],
      "id": "en-wham-en-verb-5HPsK35w",
      "links": [
        [
          "strike",
          "strike"
        ],
        [
          "smash",
          "smash"
        ],
        [
          "force",
          "force"
        ],
        [
          "impact",
          "impact"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "whammy"
        },
        {
          "word": "whim-wham"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/wæm/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/hwæm/",
      "note": "without the wine–whine merger"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-æm"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-wham.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/60/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-wham.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-wham.wav.mp3",
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      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (Southern England)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "wham"
}
{
  "categories": [
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    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
    "English interjections",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English onomatopoeias",
    "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "English verbs",
    "Rhymes:English/æm",
    "Rhymes:English/æm/1 syllable",
    "en:Sounds"
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Onomatopoeic.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "whams",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "wham (plural whams)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Roger was given a violent wham by his boxing opponent.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "a forceful blow"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "forceful",
          "forceful"
        ],
        [
          "blow",
          "blow"
        ]
      ]
    },
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      "categories": [
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "We heard a wham as the hammer struck the wall.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
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        "the sound of such a blow; a thud"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "sound",
          "sound"
        ],
        [
          "thud",
          "thud"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/wæm/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/hwæm/",
      "note": "without the wine–whine merger"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-æm"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-wham.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/60/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-wham.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-wham.wav.mp3",
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      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (Southern England)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "wham"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English 1-syllable words",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
    "English interjections",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English onomatopoeias",
    "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "English verbs",
    "Rhymes:English/æm",
    "Rhymes:English/æm/1 syllable",
    "en:Sounds"
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  "etymology_text": "Onomatopoeic.",
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "intj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Wham! The truck hit the wall.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1950 July 22, Ferguson Findley, “Waterfront”, in Louis Ruppel, editor, Collier's: Incorporating Features of the American Magazine, Crowell-Collier Publishing Company, page 16",
          "text": "I was off duty, minding my own business, […] when I heard a gun go off. Wham! it roared, not more than twenty feet from me, and then, in quick succession, wham—wham!",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The sound of a forceful blow."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "sound",
          "sound#English"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Our relationship was going smoothly and then wham! Out of nowhere he told me he was leaving me for another woman.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1952 September 22, “Since Stevenson Prefers 'Compromise', Foreign Policy Is Squarely in the Campaign”, in LIFE, volume 33, number 12, Time Inc., →ISSN, page 30",
          "text": "Wham! Overnight he [Dwight D. Eisenhower] became a warmonger.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008 August 5, Douglas Coupland, “40 on the Outside, 30 on the Inside: My theory of how men really age”, in Best Life, volume 5, number 6, Rodale, Inc., →ISSN, page 77",
          "text": "I'll look the exact same way for a decade, and then— wham!— God hits the progeria switch and for two years the downhill plunge begins anew.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used to indicate something sudden, unanticipated, and dramatic has occurred."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "sudden",
          "sudden#English"
        ],
        [
          "unanticipated",
          "unanticipated#English"
        ],
        [
          "dramatic",
          "dramatic#English"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/wæm/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/hwæm/",
      "note": "without the wine–whine merger"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-æm"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-wham.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/60/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-wham.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-wham.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/60/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-wham.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-wham.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (Southern England)"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "bg",
      "lang": "Bulgarian",
      "roman": "trjasǎk",
      "sense": "sound of a forceful blow",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "трясък"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "sound of a forceful blow",
      "word": "wumm"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "sound of a forceful blow",
      "word": "bum"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "sound of a forceful blow",
      "word": "bach"
    },
    {
      "code": "th",
      "lang": "Thai",
      "roman": "kroom",
      "sense": "sound of a forceful blow",
      "word": "โครม"
    }
  ],
  "word": "wham"
}

{
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    "English 1-syllable words",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
    "English interjections",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English onomatopoeias",
    "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "English verbs",
    "Rhymes:English/æm",
    "Rhymes:English/æm/1 syllable",
    "en:Sounds"
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Onomatopoeic.",
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        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "whamming",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "whammed",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
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      "form": "whammed",
      "tags": [
        "past"
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  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "whammy"
    },
    {
      "word": "whim-wham"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "to strike or smash (into) something with great force or impact"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "strike",
          "strike"
        ],
        [
          "smash",
          "smash"
        ],
        [
          "force",
          "force"
        ],
        [
          "impact",
          "impact"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/wæm/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/hwæm/",
      "note": "without the wine–whine merger"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-æm"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-wham.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/60/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-wham.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-wham.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/60/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-wham.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-wham.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (Southern England)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "wham"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). 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.