Word Study
flak
WORDNET DICTIONARY
Noun flak has 3 senses
- flak(n = noun.person) flack, flack catcher, flak catcher - a slick spokesperson who can turn any criticism to the advantage of their employer; Array is a kind of interpreter, representative, spokesperson, voice
- flak(n = noun.communication) attack, blast, fire, flack - intense adverse criticism; "Clinton directed his fire at the Republican Party"; "the government has come under attack"; "don't give me any flak" is a kind of criticism, unfavorable judgment
- flak(n = noun.artifact) ack-ack, ack-ack gun, antiaircraft, antiaircraft gun, flack, pom-pom - artillery designed to shoot upward at airplanes; Array has particulars: bofors gun
is a kind of gun
has parts: predictor
OXFORD DICTIONARY
flak, n. (also flack)
1 anti-aircraft fire.
2 adverse criticism; abuse.
1 anti-aircraft fire.
2 adverse criticism; abuse.
Idiom
flak jacket a protective jacket of heavy camouflage fabric reinforced with metal, worn by soldiers etc.
Etymology
abbr. of G Fliegerabwehrkanone, lit. aviator-defence-gun
THESAURUS
flak
abuse, adverse criticism, aggressiveness, animadversion, antiaircraft fire, artillery, aspersion, bad notices, bad press, battery, bellicosity, belligerence, bickering, blame, cannon, cannonry, captiousness, carping, cavil, caviling, censoriousness, censure, coast artillery, combativeness, complaints, condemnation, contentiousness, criticism, cross fire, curtain fire, direct fire, disapprobation, disapproval, dissension, dissent, dissidence, dry fire, exception, faction, factiousness, faultfinding, field artillery, file fire, fire, fire of demolition, firepower, fireworks, firing, flack, ground fire, gunfight, gunfire, gunplay, hairsplitting, heavy field artillery, high-angle fire, hit, home thrust, horizontal fire, hostile criticism, hypercriticalness, hypercriticism, imputation, infighting, interdiction fire, irascibility, irritability, knock, litigiousness, machine-gun fire, mortar fire, musketry, nagging, niggle, niggling, nit, nit-picking, obloquy, ordnance, overcriticalness, partisan spirit, partisanship, percussion fire, pestering, pettifogging, pistol fire, priggishness, pugnacity, quarrelsomeness, quibble, quibbling, raking fire, rap, rapid fire, reflection, reproachfulness, ricochet fire, rifle fire, shellfire, shoot-out, shooting, shrewishness, siege artillery, siege engine, slam, stricture, swipe, taking exception, time fire, trench artillery, trichoschistism, vertical fire, zone fire
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