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Synonyms

lash out

British  

verb

  1. to burst into or resort to verbal or physical attack

  2. informal to be extravagant, as in spending

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
lash out Idioms  

  1. Make a sudden blow or fierce verbal attack. For example, The mule lashed out with its hind legs, or After listening to Dad's criticism of his driving, Arthur lashed out at him. [Second half of 1500s]

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Here are the terms they lashed out at, and why they find them so offensive.

From The Wall Street Journal

Now the secretary and her aide are lashing out at underlings for simply following their orders.

From Salon

Stephen Colbert lashed out at the Federal Communications Commission and his own network during his show Monday night after CBS scrapped an interview he had planned with a Texas politician.

From The Wall Street Journal

Rather than lashing out, Obama addressed the controversy in his trademark measured tone, framing the episode as part of a broader moral decline in American public life.

From Salon

He tried to explain that Pete was just lashing out because he was angry.

From Literature

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.