fling
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A short romantic, oftentimes sexual.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
flingIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈflɪŋ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A short romantic, oftentimes sexual, relationship.
An act or period of unrestrained indulgence.
An act of throwing, often violently.
An act of moving the limbs or body with violent movements, especially in a dance.
A usually brief attempt
figuratively
An attempt, a try.
verb
transitive
To throw with violence or quick movement; to hurl.
Throw with force or recklessness
Throw or cast away
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To throw with violence or quick movement; to hurl.
Used this way, fling is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It comes across as direct, sometimes bluntly so.
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Gentle
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Blunt and forceful
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Write quickly.
A vigorous Scottish reel.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.