flailing
adjective
flail·ing
| \ ˈflā-liŋ
\
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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
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