Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Flak |
FlakNoun1. A slick spokesperson who can turn any criticism to the advantage of their employer. 2. Intense adverse criticism; "Clinton directed his fire at the Republican Party"; "the government has come under attack"; "don't give me any flak". 3. Artillery designed to shoot upward at airplanes. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Synonyms: FlakSynonyms: ack-ack (n), ack-ack gun (n), antiaircraft (n), antiaircraft gun (n), attack (n), blast (n), fire (n), flack (n), flack catcher (n), flak catcher (n), pom-pom (n). (additional references) |
Crosswords: Flak |
| Non-English Usage: "Flak" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. Albanian (cast, cast off, chuck, clear out, fling, heave, hurl, pitch, reject, scrap, throw, throw away), Frisian (even, flat, level, smooth), German (ack-ack gun, antiaircraft gun, anti-aircraft gun, archie), Norwegian (flake), Swedish (platform body). |
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Theater & Movies | |
Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | Afire after being hit by Japanese "Kamikaze" suicide planes, while operating off the Philippines on 30 October 1944. Photographed from USS Brush (DD-745. Note "flak" bursts over the ships. Credit: NAVY. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| "Flak" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 96.41% of the time. "Flak" is used about 167 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 96.41% | 161 | 24,661 |
| Noun (proper) | 2.4% | 4 | 175,879 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 1.2% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Total | 100.00% | 167 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expression using "flak": flak catcher. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "flak": flak-in', flak-jacket, flak-jacketed. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
flak | 35 |
flak jacket | 24 |
flik flak | 16 |
flak vest | 16 |
flak flik watch | 12 |
flak roberta | 8 |
88 flak | 6 |
38 flak | 6 |
3.7cm flak | 5 |
flak nam vest viet | 4 |
flak tower | 3 |
88mm flak | 3 |
cannon flak | 3 |
bait flak | 2 |
flak surplus vest | 2 |
3.7 36 cm flak | 2 |
flak ostwind | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "flak"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | zjarr kundërajror, kritikë e ashpër (knock), bateri kundërajrore. (various references) | |
Arabic | مدفعية مضادة للطائرات, نيران المدفعية. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | противовъздушна артилерия. (various references) | |
French | tir antiaérien, canon antiaérien. (various references) | |
Greek | αντιαεροπορικό πυροβολικό (anti-aircraft fire), αντιαεροπορικό. (various references) | |
Hungarian | panaszelhárító tisztviselő, panasz (complaint, grievance, lament), letolás (kick in the pants), légvédelmi tüzérség (air defense artillery), légvédelmi tűz (ack-ack), légelhárító tüzérség, légelhárító tűz (ack-ack), kritika (criticism). (various references) | |
Italian | fuoco (fire, focus), opposizione (opposition). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 対空砲火 (anti-aircraft fire). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | たいくうほうか (anti-aircraft fire). (various references) | |
Korean | 고사포탄. (various references) | |
Norwegian | antiluftskyts. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | akflay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | fogo antiaéreo (ack-ack), críticas. (various references) | |
Russian | зенитная артиллерия (flack). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | protivavionska odbrana (air defense), oštra kritika. (various references) | |
Spanish | fuego antiaéreo. (various references) | |
Swedish | luftvärn (air defence, air-defence). (various references) | |
Turkish | fırça çekme, uçaksavar ateşi (ack-ack, prang), uçaksavar (anti-aircraft, anti-aircraft gun), sert eleştiri (diatribe, pan, rap, slating). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | зенітна артилерія, зенітний вогонь (ack-ack). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | hoả lực phòng không. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "flak": flake, flaked, flaker, flakers, flakes, flakey, flakier, flakiest, flakily, flakiness, flakinesses, flaking, flaky. (additional references) | |
Words containing "flak": cornflakes, snowflake, snowflakes. (additional references) | |
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"Flak" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Afilaka, alak, faak, fak, falaka, falko, fawk, feak, Filsak, fla, flac, flaca, flach, flact, flad, Flaf, flako, flal, flaq, flark, flav, flec, flek, flic, flik, flirk, flok, frak, glak, Ifaluk, ilako, Klak, lak, lfa. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "flak" (pronounced fla"k) |
| 4 | f l a" k | Flack. |
| 3 | -l a" k | black, clack, lac, lack, plack, plaque, slack. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-f-k-l" | |
-1 letter: kaf. | |
-2 letters: al, fa, ka, la. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-f-k-l" | |
+1 letter: flack, flake, flaky, flank, flask, kalif. | |
+2 letters: alfaki, flacks, flaked, flaker, flakes, flakey, flanks, flasks, kalifs, khalif. | |
+3 letters: alfakis, fanlike, fatlike, flacked, flakers, flakier, flakily, flaking, flanked, flanken, flanker, flasket, flokati, folkway, frankly, khalifa, khalifs, rackful, sackful, tankful, wakeful. | |
+4 letters: alkalify, backfill, backflow, blackfin, blackfly, calflike, calfskin, fallback, fanglike, faunlike, fawnlike, flackery, flacking, flakiest, flankens, flankers, flanking, flapjack, flaskets, flatwork, flokatis, foamlike, folktale, folkways, forkball, franklin, freakily, fullback, halfback, halfbeak, kalewife, kalifate, khalifas, leaflike, outflank, rackfuls, rockfall, sackfuls, sacksful, talkfest, tankfuls, thankful, waiflike, wrackful. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
