Adjacent Words

whippersnapper definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: someone who is unimportant but cheeky and presumptuous [syn: whippersnapper, jackanapes, lightweight]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: alteration of snippersnapper Date: 1700 a diminutive, insignificant, or presumptuous person

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a small child. 2 an insignificant but presumptuous or intrusive (esp. young) person. Etymology: perh. for whipsnapper, implying noise and unimportance

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Whippersnapper Whip"per*snap`per, n. A diminutive, insignificant, or presumptuous person. [Colloq.] ``Little whippersnappers like you.'' --T. Hughes.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(whippersnappers) If you refer to a young person as a whippersnapper, you disapprove of them because you think that they are behaving more confidently than they should. (INFORMAL, OLD-FASHIONED) N-COUNT [disapproval]

Moby Thesaurus

JD, a nobody, a nothing, boldface, brat, brazenface, chutzpanik, cipher, common man, dummy, elf, enfant terrible, figurehead, gamin, holy terror, hussy, imp, insignificancy, jackstraw, juvenile delinquent, lightweight, little fellow, little guy, little monkey, malapert, man of straw, mediocrity, minx, nebbish, nobody, nobody one knows, nonentity, nothing, nullity, obscurity, pip-squeak, puck, punk, punk kid, pup, puppy, runt, saucebox, scrub, shrimp, small fry, small potato, small potatoes, smart aleck, smart-ass, smarty, smarty-pants, spoiled brat, squirt, squit, swaggerer, upstart, urchin, whiffet, wise guy, wise-ass, zero, zilch