Word
wham
US/ˈhwæm/
UK/wˈæm/
Definition
v. a sudden, loud, and forceful hit or blow. You use it to describe a sound or a physical impact that is very strong and unexpected.
v. a sudden, forceful impact or blow, typically producing a loud sound.
Examples
“The door slammed with a loud wham.”
“The car hit the wall with a loud wham, causing the alarm to go off immediately.”
“The sudden wham of the door echoed through the empty hallway, startling the few people who were still working late in the office.”
Examples
simple
“The door slammed with a loud wham.”
contextual
“The car hit the wall with a loud wham, causing the alarm to go off immediately.”
complex
“The sudden wham of the door echoed through the empty hallway, startling the few people who were still working late in the office.”
Etymology
Onomatopoeic, representing the sound of an object being slammed against something.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Word family
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/wham