1 flailing | Definition of flailing

flailing

adjective
flail·​ing | \ ˈflā-liŋ How to pronounce flailing (audio) \

Definition of flailing

1 : moving, swinging, or beating wildly like a flail used especially of a person or a person's limbs They dragged her toward cabin five, while the other campers made way to avoid her flailing feet.— Rick RiordanVivid dreams made him lash out at me in his sleep with kicks and flailing arms.— Jeremy Clarke… the crowd erupts and the mosh pit pushes flailing bodies towards the stage.— Samantha O'Connor
2a : beset by difficulties : struggling a flailing economy … phoned a friend to vent about his flailing marriage …— Sarah Grossbart
b : clumsy or ineffectual their flailing attempts/efforts to save the company

Other Words from flailing

flailingly adverb
… was walking along the ledge of a precipitous dropoff when he slipped on a mossy rock and fell flailingly into the current … — Jim Mustian

First Known Use of flailing

1882, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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More from Merriam-Webster on flailing

Nglish: Translation of flailing for Spanish Speakers