# thrash

/ˈθɹæʃ/ (US) · /θɹˈæʃ/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/thrash
Updated: 2026-08-27

## Senses

### 1. to move wildly

verb · CEFR B2

to move your arms and legs around in a violent or uncontrolled way.

For teachers: to move about wildly or violently; to flail, often as a result of struggle or lack of control.

- The swimmer began to thrash his arms in the water when he felt a cramp.
- The injured animal continued to thrash about in the undergrowth, making it difficult for the vet to administer a sedative safely.

### 2. to defeat easily

verb · CEFR B2 · Informal

to beat an opponent or another team by a very large score.

For teachers: to defeat an opponent utterly or decisively in a competition or contest.

- Our local team managed to thrash the champions four-nil in a surprise victory.
- The incumbent candidate thrashed his rival in the primary election, securing a majority in nearly every district.

### 3. to beat physically

verb · CEFR C1 · Literary

to hit a person or animal many times as a punishment.

For teachers: to beat mercilessly or repeatedly, typically with a stick or whip.

- In the old novel, the cruel master threatened to thrash the servant for being late.
- The historical account describes how prisoners were thrashed for the slightest infractions of the camp's arbitrary rules.

### 4. computing memory issues

verb · CEFR C2 · Technical

when a computer spends all its time moving data instead of doing work, making it very slow.

For teachers: to undergo poor performance in a virtual memory system where excessive paging prevents productive processing.

- The server started to thrash because too many heavy applications were running at once.
- System throughput plummeted as the machine began to thrash, with the hard drive light remaining solid due to constant page swaps.

### 5. music genre

noun · CEFR B2 · Informal

a fast and loud type of heavy metal music.

For teachers: a subgenre of heavy metal music characterised by its fast tempo and overall aggression.

- He spent his teenage years listening to thrash and playing the drums.
- The band's early work is considered a cornerstone of eighties thrash, blending punk speed with complex guitar structures.

## Examples

- The swimmer started to thrash his arms in the water.
- The angry waves caused the small boat to thrash against the wooden pier until the ropes finally snapped.
- In his feverish state, the patient began to thrash about so violently that the nurses had to move the bedside equipment to prevent him from injuring himself.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.