"flail" meaning in English

See flail in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /fleɪl/ Audio: en-us-flail.ogg [US], en-au-flail.ogg [Australia] Forms: flail [singular], flails [plural]
Head templates: {{noun}} [POS TABLE]
  1. A flail is a tool used for threshing. It is made up of a long handle with a shorter stick.
    Sense id: simple-flail-en-noun-ZtPgVI0Z
  2. A flail is a weapon that has a striking part attached to the handle with a flexible joint.
    Sense id: simple-flail-en-noun-vWo9u9fs

Verb

IPA: /fleɪl/ Audio: en-us-flail.ogg [US], en-au-flail.ogg [Australia] Forms: flail [canonical], flails [third-person, singular], flailed [past], flailed [past, participle], flailing [present, participle]
Head templates: {{verb}} [POS TABLE]
  1. If you flail a person, you beat them using a flail (sense 2).
    Sense id: simple-flail-en-verb-2ChQF~tV
  2. If you flail, you wave or swing vigorously.
    Sense id: simple-flail-en-verb-g-IoK85Z
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "flail",
      "tags": [
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "flails",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "glosses": [
        "A flail is a tool used for threshing. It is made up of a long handle with a shorter stick."
      ],
      "id": "simple-flail-en-noun-ZtPgVI0Z",
      "raw_tags": [
        "countable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "glosses": [
        "A flail is a weapon that has a striking part attached to the handle with a flexible joint."
      ],
      "id": "simple-flail-en-noun-vWo9u9fs",
      "raw_tags": [
        "countable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/fleɪl/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-flail.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-au-flail.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "flail"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "flail",
      "tags": [
        "canonical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "flails",
      "tags": [
        "third-person",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "flailed",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "flailed",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "participle"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "flailing",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "participle"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "glosses": [
        "If you flail a person, you beat them using a flail (sense 2)."
      ],
      "id": "simple-flail-en-verb-2ChQF~tV",
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "glosses": [
        "If you flail, you wave or swing vigorously."
      ],
      "id": "simple-flail-en-verb-g-IoK85Z",
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/fleɪl/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-flail.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-au-flail.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "flail"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "flail",
      "tags": [
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "flails",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "Countable nouns"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A flail is a tool used for threshing. It is made up of a long handle with a shorter stick."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "countable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "Countable nouns"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A flail is a weapon that has a striking part attached to the handle with a flexible joint."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "countable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/fleɪl/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-flail.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-au-flail.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "flail"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "flail",
      "tags": [
        "canonical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "flails",
      "tags": [
        "third-person",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "flailed",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "flailed",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "participle"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "flailing",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "participle"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "Transitive verbs"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "If you flail a person, you beat them using a flail (sense 2)."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "Transitive verbs"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "If you flail, you wave or swing vigorously."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/fleɪl/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-flail.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-au-flail.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "flail"
}

Download raw JSONL data for flail meaning in English (1.5kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-04-24 from the simplewiktionary dump dated 2025-04-20 using wiktextract (813e02a and ea19a0a). 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.