Adjacent Words

flak definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a slick spokesperson who can turn any criticism to the advantage of their employer [syn: flak catcher, flak, flack catcher, flack]
2: intense adverse criticism; "Clinton directed his fire at the Republican Party"; "the government has come under attack"; "don't give me any flak" [syn: fire, attack, flak, flack, blast]
3: artillery designed to shoot upward at airplanes [syn: antiaircraft, antiaircraft gun, flak, flack, pom- pom, ack-ack, ack-ack gun]

Merriam Webster's

also flack noun (plural flak; also flack) Etymology: German, from Fliegerabwehrkanonen, from Flieger flyer + Abwehr defense + Kanonen cannons Date: 1938 1. antiaircraft guns 2. the bursting shells fired from flak 3. (also flack) criticism, opposition

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. (also flack) 1 anti-aircraft fire. 2 adverse criticism; abuse. Phrases and idioms: flak jacket a protective jacket of heavy camouflage fabric reinforced with metal, worn by soldiers etc. Etymology: abbr. of G Fliegerabwehrkanone, lit. aviator-defence-gun

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

If you get a lot of flak from someone, they criticize you severely. If you take the flak, you get the blame for something. (INFORMAL) The President is getting a lot of flak for that...

Moby Thesaurus

abuse, adverse criticism, aggressiveness, animadversion, antiaircraft fire, artillery, aspersion, bad notices, bad press, battery, bellicosity, belligerence, bickering, blame, cannon, cannonry, captiousness, carping, cavil, caviling, censoriousness, censure, coast artillery, combativeness, complaints, condemnation, contentiousness, criticism, cross fire, curtain fire, direct fire, disapprobation, disapproval, dissension, dissent, dissidence, dry fire, exception, faction, factiousness, faultfinding, field artillery, file fire, fire, fire of demolition, firepower, fireworks, firing, flack, ground fire, gunfight, gunfire, gunplay, hairsplitting, heavy field artillery, high-angle fire, hit, home thrust, horizontal fire, hostile criticism, hypercriticalness, hypercriticism, imputation, infighting, interdiction fire, irascibility, irritability, knock, litigiousness, machine-gun fire, mortar fire, musketry, nagging, niggle, niggling, nit, nit-picking, obloquy, ordnance, overcriticalness, partisan spirit, partisanship, percussion fire, pestering, pettifogging, pistol fire, priggishness, pugnacity, quarrelsomeness, quibble, quibbling, raking fire, rap, rapid fire, reflection, reproachfulness, ricochet fire, rifle fire, shellfire, shoot-out, shooting, shrewishness, siege artillery, siege engine, slam, stricture, swipe, taking exception, time fire, trench artillery, trichoschistism, vertical fire, zone fire