Meaning
-
Whiplash is a noun with two main meanings:
- A neck injury caused by a sudden jerking motion of the head, often from car accidents.
- A sudden or sharp change in movement, condition, or situation (figurative use).
Grammar and Usage
- Part of speech: Noun
- Countable/uncountable depending on use.
- Often used with verbs like suffer, cause, get, give, experience.
Typical patterns:
- suffer (a) whiplash
- cause whiplash
- the whiplash of change
Common Phrases
- suffer whiplash – to be injured in the neck
- give someone whiplash – (literal/figurative) to cause a sudden reaction or shock
- emotional whiplash – extreme changes in mood or feelings
- whiplash effect – sudden negative consequences following an event
Collocations
- whiplash injury
- mild/severe whiplash
- whiplash accident
- economic whiplash
- political whiplash
Examples
- She suffered whiplash after the car accident.
- The roller coaster gave me such a jolt that I thought I had whiplash.
- Fans experienced emotional whiplash when the team lost after leading the whole game.
- The economy went through whiplash during the financial crisis.
- His sudden mood changes gave me whiplash.
- The new law caused political whiplash in the region.
- He filed an insurance claim for a whiplash injury.
- The stock market crash created whiplash effects on global trade.
Synonyms or Related
- neck injury (literal)
- jolt
- shock
- sudden change
- backlash (related figurative term)