spank
verb · noun
Simple meaning
To soundly defeat, to trounce.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
spangkIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈspæŋk
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.
verb
transitive
To soundly defeat, to trounce.
intransitive
To move quickly and nimbly on foot; to stride or run at a brisk pace.
intransitive
To move or turn rapidly, as the gears of a machine or the sails of a ship.
transitive
To hit very hard.
noun
An instance of spanking, separately or part of a multiple blows-beating; a smack, swat, or slap.
A slapping sound, as produced by spanking.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: An instance of spanking, separately or part of a multiple blows-beating; a smack, swat, or slap.
Used this way, spank is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use spank
- “Some parents will spank their child lightly on the bottom for misbehavior.”noun
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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.