smack 1
noun
1a sharp slap or blow, typically one given with the palm of the hand: she gave Mark a smack across the face
More example sentences
- With one farmer acting as go-between, eventually you would hear the smack of spittle-wetted palms signifying a satisfactory result all round.
- Bully boys kowtow to only two things: a large smack or abject ridicule.
- He wasted no time in raining down a series of sharp smacks to his target.
- With a little force and a good aim, she succeeded in squishing the scream - inspiring creature with a sharp smack.
- She pushed her way from the table and passed her previous customer, who gave her a sharp smack on the rear as she passed.
- He straightened in surprise and was met with a sharp smack from the small girl before him.
- Well now, I don't like to sound judgmental but, if any of them turned up on the doorstep asking if my daughter wanted to come out to play, I'd send them packing with a smack over the ear.
- He caught her with ease and gave her a sharp smack on her rump.
- It was like getting two smacks with a single slap across the face, the first one was the physical slap and the second was the emotional one.
- I agree, back then, even when I was a kid, it was seen as the norm to discipline children with a smack or a belt with a stick, but yet they didn't grow up to be muggers or binge drinking fighters.
- He got a smack in the head and a smack in the throat so he won't practise today.
- ‘Man, you're easier than I thought,’ he snickered, earning him a sharp smack on the head with another pillow.
- Lydia tried to stop him and was rewarded with a sharp smack to the leg.
- First I realised that there are situations in which a smack on the bottom or a slap on the fingers was the only way to get a message across.
- I heard a thump and repetitive smacks and screams.
- Melanie's hand slapped the table with a smack, and she, too, got hold of one.
- She was snapped out of her wandering daze as Meghan gave her a sharp smack to the back of the head.
- Smack after smack, punch after punch, slap after slap; it was all heard.
- David walked up and coolly punched the man smack in his mouth.
- This got him a light smack on the head from Anna's palm.
slap, blow, spank, cuff, clout, thump, punch, rap, swat, thwack, crack
informal whack, clip, biff, wallop, swipe, bop, belt, bash, sock
1.1 a loud, sharp sound: she closed the ledger with a smack
More example sentences
- After Amber's palm made contact with Jackie's face, sounding off a loud smack through the area, Jackie fell to the ground from the force.
- There was a smack, then the sound of a door closing and locking.
- My landing was uneventful, which is to say there wasn't a loud smack on the wall at the bottom of the stairs.
- A loud smack was heard and the sound of flesh on flesh reverberated in the now silent gym.
- Rosa smiled and tossed Alli aside; she hit a tree with a loud smack.
- Sadly it was soon followed by a whistle as the sword cut through the air, which prompted a loud smack as it hit its target and a groan.
- Suddenly he dropped me without warning and I hit the ground with a loud smack.
- There was a loud smack, and one of the shelves detached and plenty of magazines spilled onto the floor.
- Throwing his sheets back, he swung his legs over the side of his bed, his feet hitting his hard wood floor with a loud smack.
- A loud smack of something hard meeting with something soft was heard before Trinity spoke up.
- Properly done, you will spill you drink, face-plant and make a loud smack when you hit.
- The bodies hit the cemented pavement with a loud smack and they begin to roll across the floor.
- Mychael spun around, her hand connecting with Caleb's face with a loud smack.
- Her hand flew up and a loud smack was heard throughout the large room before Nora knew what she was doing.
- When the teen reached the doorstep to the house, she heard a loud smack, and a child crying.
- They hurried along, the smack of their feet the only sound that echoed in the dank cavern.
- After a few second, he heard a resounding smack and a thud as Valshar obviously hit the wall.
- Just then, Kat's hand made contact with that stupid grin with a loud smack that made the whole hallway pay attention.
- He tries the pipe out and ends up flying out and landing with a great loud smack.
- I heard a very loud smack and my eyes went directly to the front of the room.
bang, crash, thud, thump, wham
1.2 a loud kiss: I was saluted with two hearty smacks on my cheeks
More example sentences
- They started groping viciously and kissing savagely with loud, desperate smacks resonating into the dizzy evening air.
- He winced when Kala delivered a loud smack to her father's cheek.
- I leaned in and gave her a quick smack on the cheek as she shoved me away.
- Partly because his kiss was a solid one, not a smack or whatever other types they are, also because this was Kenny!
- I slowly exhaled and lifted my soles off the ground and planted a light kiss on Dexter's lips, not a smack.
- He smiled at me, took my cheeks in his hands, and kissed my forehead with an over-dramatic smack.
- I heard a bunch of sucking noises, smacks, and giggles below.
- She kissed the scratch on my forehead with a loud, wet smack and then hurled herself onto Rafe's twitching lips.
verb
[with object] 1strike (someone or something), typically with the palm of the hand and as a punishment: Jessica smacked his face, quite hard
More example sentences
- ‘We don't even believe in smacking the kids,’ she said.
- I remember my mother smacking me because when a little cousin was staying with us I talked to him when he was in the lavatory.
- If I ever did something like that, my mother would have smacked me into next week.
- We all sat and watched an out-of-control mother repeatedly smack her toddler at a major shopping centre this afternoon.
- For example, I believe you have the right to smack the person in front of you with a grocery divider if they're taking too long going through their change purse at the cash.
- He looked shocked and hurt that his mother had so openly smacked him as if he were a street urchin.
- At primary school we had an elderly teacher who smacked us so hard across the palms, he would snap his yard-long ruler in two.
- You smack your forehead as punishment for saying that.
- The campaign to make smacking a crime will do more harm than good.
- Suppose you're a believer in not smacking children to discipline them.
- If you smacked any other person than a child then you would be charged with a level of assault, so why is it legal for a parent to assault a child?
- Despite my professional training, I had always thought that I would smack my children if they needed punishing.
- Brandon sped down the highway, smacking the steering wheel with the palm of his hand.
- His mother had tried to smack Jeff for eating the leftover food and instead Jeff ended up hitting her.
- I never smacked him or chastised him or punished him.
- Yet, when Lydia grew up to be fourteen years old, she smacked her mother one day.
- Parents will now be the only people legally allowed to smack children, and childcare organisations say they hope the law will eventually be extended to parents as well.
- If smacking children becomes illegal those people who really want to change or become better parents will not speak out for fear of consequences.
- I get offended, and upset, by children running around, out of control, by their mothers shouting at them, smacking them or swearing at them, should I call for a ban on that too?
- ‘When a parent smacks a child, they are to some extent losing control,’ said Lord Lester.
slap, hit, strike, spank, cuff, clout, thump, punch, rap, swat, thwack, crack;
put someone over one's knee, make someone feel the back of one's hand, box someone's ears
informal whack, clip, wallop, biff, swipe, bop, belt, bash, sock, give someone a hiding, warm someone's bottom, give someone a hot bottom
informalBritish slosh
Scottish & Northern English informal skelp, scud
informalNorth American boff, slug, bust
informalAustralian , New Zealand dong, quilt
archaic smite
1.1[with object and adverbial of place] smash, drive, or put forcefully into or on to something: he smacked a fist into the palm of a black-gloved hand
More example sentences
- Her hand flew up and smacked Kim forcefully around the face.
- As she crossed the road, some fool driving at 70 mph smacked into her, and she was thrown into the air and hit the road at the other side of the car.
- She clenched her fists and smacked Muketsu hard with her knuckles.
- Whenever I am driving, I can barely avoid being smacked by some or the other road-user for no fault of mine.
- He kept running and smacked into him, knocking both of them down in the muck on the ground.
- The recoil brought the barrel upwards and it smacked into her face, leaving a livid bruise.
- Scientists may have discovered the impact site of one big space rock that smacked into the South Pacific just a few hundred years ago.
- The intruder shot across the floor in a straight horizontal line to smack against a pillar in a bone-crushing impact.
- The door had smacked right into Amy, knocking her off her feet, her nose bleeding.
- His fist smacked into her chest and she grunted in pain but held fast, despite her lacerated hands.
- Jacob leaped again, then darted downward from midair, smacking right into Steve's chest and knocking them both down.
- I remember the police smacking people with batons near
- She let out a small cry of surprise and then smacked her palm against the surface of the water in the bucket, causing it to splash all over Will's chest.
- I ask, but he just starts crying loudly as Babsy smacks me with small clutch purse.
- Scott jackets the entire shaft in impact-resistant fiberglass so it won't splinter when a rogue wave has you smacking it against the gunwale.
- She elbowed the back of Bashir's head, smacking his face against the ground and leaving him unconscious, and that was that.
- He hit the ground hard and fast, jostling every bone in his body and smacking his head against the back wall of the pod, immediately losing consciousness.
- I opened my eyes and realized Paul's meaty hands were around my throat and he was smacking the back of my head on the floor.
- One clasped her wrists together, one smacked her arms to her body, one slammed her legs tight and the other wrapped around her ankles.
- The victim said he felt a huge blow, was smacked on the lips, ended up crouched and fell to his knees on the ground.
bang, slam, crash, thump, sling, fling
informal bung, plonk
informalNorth American plunk
2part (one's lips) noisily in eager anticipation or enjoyment of food or drink: Morgan drank half the Scotch and smacked his lips
More example sentences
- This may seem like something very minor to some people, but the sight and sound of chewed food and smacking lips at the table make me lose my appetite.
- The sound of someone else's smacking lips and clonking teeth makes the stomach scream in protest.
- Comparisons were made, lips were smacked, tongues were rolled and more thoughts were offered on the flavours and subtleties.
- They include: making strange faces and noises, chewing, swallowing and smacking the lips, plucking at the clothes.
- He smacked his choppy lips, his moist skin dark olive green in the candlelight.
- He slowly opened his eyes and smacked his tongue against his lips.
- Kalvyn was steps ahead as he smacked noisily on the delicious bird.
- Kaafk pushed another large piece of bird into his mouth, lips smacking, a sincere effort, then chased the swallow with wine.
- Her frizzy auburn hair was held back by a pencil and a clip, and she smacked her lips loudly as she set four beers and a shot of whiskey in on the table in front of them.
adverb
(also smack bang) informal 1in a sudden and violent way: I ran smack into the back of a parked truck
More example sentences
- He plonked smack bang on the green green grass of Lismore Lake.
- If you were, you'd be smack bang in the firing line of his new book.
- Hurriedly turning a corner, Tielle ran smack bang into a large figure heading in her direction.
- It was when cheap sound cards and computers hit Australia, and collided smack bang with a dance music industry on the upswing, that the revolution really began.
- Five kids were stacked in one corner, one had run smack bang into the goal post, two were clinging to her brother's legs and three had climbed onto James’ back.
- As Titta watches impassively through the window of his hotel room, a suited man in the traffic island below, distracted by the sight of a passing woman, walks smack bang into a lamppost.
- They brought with them the philosophies, values and attitudes of the counter-culture, and ran smack bang into those of the conservative, small town communities into which they moved.
- After she'd stopped screaming she turns to run out of the rood, smack bang into the door.
- So I had my first dove before I'd had my first period - before I'd even had my first kiss - and when it took hold of me I fell smack bang in love.
- And as I hurtled round the corner, I ran smack bang into them and fell.
- I bumped smack bang into Kelley as he emerged from the family room carrying a coffee table.
- Actually, he had sent it flying through the air, and smack bang into the maître d's left eye, but that's just a minor detail.
- The new Opposition leader has had a dream ride, but this week he's landed smack bang into political reality.
- I turned around to see what he was yelling about when I ran smack into a locker door.
- These are big punchers and Diaz will fight right smack within their power range.
- She sailed across the room, landing smack in the unsuspecting dark-haired boy's arms.
- But just as I turned away from my locker, I bumped smack into someone's shoulder.
- The ball hit her smack against the side of her head, sending the cell phone flying to slide along the floor and under a bleacher, a broken fake nail not far behind it.
- They were walking sidelong the lockers to their own when a locker opened up out of nowhere and hit Mae smack in the face.
straight, right, directly, squarely, headlong, dead, plumb, point-blank;
exactly, precisely
informal slap, bang, slap bang, smack bang
informalNorth American spang, smack dab
2exactly; precisely: our mother's house was smack in the middle of the city
More example sentences
- I worked out that at default, its set dead smack bang in the middle.
- ‘The other thing,’ Abby chips in, ‘because it's a joint project with the library and we're smack bang in the middle of Central Library, we're going to have access to all their resources.’
- I've no aspirations-I'm living smack bang in the middle of my aspiration and it's a great place to be.
- Right smack bang in the middle of the chart were Virginia and Wisconsin, each bearing an average IQ of 100.
- These shops are placed smack bang in the middle of a walkway, in an apparent effort to squeeze as much rent money as possible from the shopping centre.
- This month's flat of the month is right smack bang in the middle of town located beside ‘Beef Eaters’.
- I work pretty much smack bang in the middle of it all in Farringdon, right next to the unmarked Reuters building, which is Fort Knox by the way.
- Well, unless you've been living under a rock you'll know that we are smack bang in the middle of NZ Music month.
- Then, smack bang in the middle of Anderson's foray into investigative journalism came September 11.
- Landing smack bang in the midst of all these misfits is Vlad, a seemingly normal guy who appears to have everything, including looks, talent and confidence.
- There's a clear warning sign planted smack bang next to her photo on the Wimbledon poster.
- A sort of Spanish Rye, smack bang in South America.
- Last year on holiday in Florida we were right smack bang in the path of Hurricane Charley, itself a Cat 5 storm although nowhere near as big as Katrina and Rita.
- The garden of No 10 is a delightful oasis smack bang in the centre of town.
- Wet and Wild is a relatively new water park, smack bang next to Movie World.
- We had booked into a guesthouse smack bang in the centre of the shopping district on Hong Kong Island.
- RTD and the other writers have done a fantastic job bringing Dr Who smack bang up to date.
- Asia's largest slum lies smack bang between a high-tech business district with gleaming glass skyscrapers and a tiny Mumbai suburb dotted with grand Art Deco mansions.
- However, they also put you smack bang in with all your competitors making it easier for the browser to comparison shop.
- Apart from Evan, who's sitting smack bang in the centre of the room, the place is empty.
straight, right, directly, squarely, headlong, dead, plumb, point-blank;
exactly, precisely
informal slap, bang, slap bang, smack bang
informalNorth American spang, smack dab
Phrases
-
a smack in the face
- (also a smack in the eye) informal something that causes great offence, disappointment, or distress: the government's refusal to reconsider their decision is another smack in the face for those workersMore example sentences
- For a Government inspector to come to our district and ignore all the good planning reasons why these towering metal structures should not be allowed is a smack in the face to local people and the local council.
- This article is I suppose intended to be light-hearted, but it's the kind of humour that in many circles would just get you a smack in the face sooner or later.
- A couple of hours later on, the prime minister came the closest he has got so far to a smack in the face when he won a division on a clause in the bill by a single vote.
- He picked up the phone, making a mental note to give his butler a smack in the face later on.
- To be asked to render assistance and then when you get there to be assaulted, it's literally a smack in the face.
- It took a few moments for what the servant had just said before the full meaning hit Elizabeth like a smack in the face.
- Molly's harsh laughter is like a smack in the face.
- Isn't that a smack in the face for loyal customers?
- That is a disgrace, and a smack in the face for those families who are struggling to meet those children's needs.
- The words that he called back to her over his shoulder felt like a smack in the face to the young woman.
rebuff, rejection, repulse, snub, insult, affront, put-down, humiliation, blow to one's pride, slap in the faceinformal brush-off
Origin
mid 16th century (in the sense 'part (one's lips) noisily'): from Middle Dutch smacken, of imitative origin; compare with German schmatzen 'eat or kiss noisily'.
More
English has many smacks. Smack as in ‘it smacks of fish’ is based on Old English smaec ‘flavour or smell’. The one meaning both ‘to part your lips noisily’ and ‘to strike someone’, arrived from Dutch smacken in the mid 16th century. Initially people smacked their lips in the context of eating and drinking and, later, kissing, but by the early 19th century the word was being used in the sense of hitting someone. The smack that is a kind of sailing vessel is also Dutch, while the slang word for ‘heroin’ is probably from Yiddish schmeck, ‘a sniff, a smell’, from the same Germanic root as the Old English smack.
Words that rhyme with smack
aback, alack, attack, back, black, brack, clack, claque, crack, Dirac, drack, flack, flak, hack, jack, Kazakh, knack, lack, lakh, mac, mach, Nagorno-Karabakh, pack, pitchblack, plaque, quack, rack, sac, sack, shack, shellac, slack, snack, stack, tach, tack, thwack, track, vac, wack, whack, wrack, yak, ZackFor editors and proofreaders
Line breaks: smack
Definition of smack in:
- US English dictionary
- English synonyms
- US English synonyms
smack 2
verb
(smack of) [no object] 1have a flavour of; taste of: the tea smacked strongly of tannin
More example sentences
- It offers the drinker not an overpowering smack of peat, but a delicious honeyed, floral sweetness.
taste of, have the flavour of, have the savour of
1.1 suggest the presence or effects of (something wrong or unpleasant): the whole thing smacks of a cover-up
More example sentences
- But at least one protester said revelations that others were paid makes the whole demonstration smack of political opportunism.
- The tightrope walk between self-promotion for the sake of viability and distaste for anything that smacks of selling-out has presented Stanley with a dilemma.
- Critics have always maintained the present system smacks of cronyism and cover-up.
- But some officiants I spoke to sternly discourage inclusion of anything which might smack of religion - even a fondly remembered hymn.
- This smacks of electioneering gone wrong to me, and further erodes the health minister's reputation.
- Some suggest this smacks of rural mail delivery funding the federal government.
- If that is really what happened, it is wrong of McCarthy and smacks of a lack of discipline on the part of the player which must be condemned with contempt.
- By sticking to the line that the air marshals alone are right and everyone else is wrong they betray a mindset which smacks of cover-up and hints at lack of tangible evidence.
- The whole exercise smacks of the new political class.
- Well, does it not smack of some kind of deal gone wrong?
- With a history of con artists using small companies as a base to defraud the public, anything that smacks of looser controls makes regulators squeamish.
- To suggest any changes in that respect would be deemed politically incorrect and would smack of extremism.
- It would all smack of politicians appointing a Speaker to suit themselves.
- This whole proposal smacks of a level of control that this city - that no city in Canada - should give to the police.
- But the whole book smacks of self righteous mockery and I hardly think this is the way a responsible, caring parent would wish to raise their children.
- This whole episode smacks of a serious dereliction of duty, certainly by the Fire Service for which the chief must be held accountable, but perhaps by other departments as well.
- The whole situation smacks of a double standard.
- Some people remain surprised that in this modern age we should still be ruled over by any sort of royalty, as the whole bejewelled charade smacks of musty old deference.
- The whole episode smacks of expediency and cowardice.
- Anything else smacks of ‘elitism’, the paternalist attempt by some to dictate to others what they ought to want.
suggest, hint at, have overtones of, have a suggestion of, have the air of, give the impression of, have the hallmark of, have the stamp of, resemble, seem like;
smell of, reek of
noun
(a smack of) 1.1 a trace or suggestion of: I hear the smack of collusion between them
More example sentences
- I usually prefer my words in neat parcels, bare little things that are scratched onto the page with a smack of impressionism.
trace, tinge, touch, suggestion, hint, scintilla, impression, overtone, air, suspicion, whisper, whiff
Origin
Old English smæc 'flavour, smell', of Germanic origin; related to Dutch smaak and German Geschmack.
More
English has many smacks. Smack as in ‘it smacks of fish’ is based on Old English smaec ‘flavour or smell’. The one meaning both ‘to part your lips noisily’ and ‘to strike someone’, arrived from Dutch smacken in the mid 16th century. Initially people smacked their lips in the context of eating and drinking and, later, kissing, but by the early 19th century the word was being used in the sense of hitting someone. The smack that is a kind of sailing vessel is also Dutch, while the slang word for ‘heroin’ is probably from Yiddish schmeck, ‘a sniff, a smell’, from the same Germanic root as the Old English smack.
For editors and proofreaders
Line breaks: smack
Definition of smack in:
- US English dictionary
- English synonyms
- US English synonyms
smack 3
noun
British English a single-masted sailing boat used for coasting or fishing: the village still harbours a few fishing smacks
More example sentences
- He gives us a wonderful tale of hitch-hiking aboard a motley assortment of craft - freights, dhows, yachts and fishing smacks and meeting interesting and colourful men and women on the way.
- We are then brought to the consideration of the question whether, upon the facts appearing in these records, the fishing smacks were subject to capture by the armed vessels of the United States during the recent war with Spain.
- During the early years these were sailing smacks, but the yard was at the forefront of the development of steam trawlers and came to specialise in long-range trawlers for the Hull distant water fleet.
- The Berwick evidence also indicates the high degree of competition and control exerted over road haulage by the two shipping companies operating smacks.
- He brought along press cuttings of the rescue of crew from the smack Argo by Clacton lifeboatmen in 1936.
- Berwick smacks were sloops with a single tall mainmast.
- The trade to London remained profitable for the fewer smacks engaged in it but other vessels owned by the company struggled to find regular employment.
- Pirates of the Caribbean smacks its comedy up against bone-shuddering battles and, like even the worst pirate capers, has ships of great beauty.
- Britannia, the oldest surviving smack belonging to the company, 71 carried a cargo of salt to Riga in 1823 but was employed intermittently after that.
Origin
early 17th century: from Dutch smak, of unknown ultimate origin.
More
English has many smacks. Smack as in ‘it smacks of fish’ is based on Old English smaec ‘flavour or smell’. The one meaning both ‘to part your lips noisily’ and ‘to strike someone’, arrived from Dutch smacken in the mid 16th century. Initially people smacked their lips in the context of eating and drinking and, later, kissing, but by the early 19th century the word was being used in the sense of hitting someone. The smack that is a kind of sailing vessel is also Dutch, while the slang word for ‘heroin’ is probably from Yiddish schmeck, ‘a sniff, a smell’, from the same Germanic root as the Old English smack.
For editors and proofreaders
Line breaks: smack
Definition of smack in:
- US English dictionary
- English synonyms
- US English synonyms
smack 4
noun
[mass noun] informal heroin: I was out scoring smack
More example sentences
- Something he has never done: Hard drugs like smack or cocaine.
- She graduates to heroin - her boyfriend is on smack too - and her addiction takes its toll on her family.
- Alas, a fish cannot live without water, a heroin junkie cannot survive without smack, and I just can't function without my dancing.
- But I could see from her eyes she was away with the fairies, courtesy of smack, methadone, or maybe some indiscriminate bottle of tranquillizers.
- As I walked out with my suitcase, other residents and some of the counsellors said I would be back on smack within days of me leaving.
- When her little sister gets shot up with some bad smack by a greedy dope pusher, Coffy decides to exact her revenge all the way up the food chain.
- Long term it is more addictive than smack; also you need lots of it.
- If you go to a dealer to buy it, they will most likely also have other drugs, therefore anyone who wants a smoke will get pills, coke, possibly smack or crack offered to them.
- I am tempted to spend a thousand quid on smack, shag a back-street-slapper and spend the rest of my life in a cardboard box - but I do not.
- Forget smack, skag and crack - this is the future.
- They take drugs, they take ecstasy, speed and smack because, to be honest, they're good fun.
- Jerry also works the streets, pimping his old lady Stella to raise the cash to buy smack from the repellent drug lord, Fats.
- Our footballers are too stupid to tell the difference between smack and steroids and haven't a clue where to score either.
- Which got me to thinking that a true addict wouldn't label their skunk, smack or horse with the petite and clinical summation of ‘hard drugs’.
- He was so much stronger than cocaine, wasn't it supposed to be as dangerous as smack?
- I've been in and out of jail and round in circles for years - desperately wanting to get off drugs but finding no way to get off the merry-go-round of smack, stealing and the nick.
- Sympathy is due for a brief moment when one of these girls pukes on him after snorting smack in his bathroom, but quickly evaporates when he wonders if he might still get her to sleep with him.
- I'm assuming that the reason Mia Wallace overdosed was because she mistook Vincent's smack for coke, and the former isn't snortable.
- By this time, his tolerance to smack was way down.
- He got into debt buying smack from prison dealers.
Origin
1940s: probably an alteration of Yiddish schmeck 'a sniff'.
More
English has many smacks. Smack as in ‘it smacks of fish’ is based on Old English smaec ‘flavour or smell’. The one meaning both ‘to part your lips noisily’ and ‘to strike someone’, arrived from Dutch smacken in the mid 16th century. Initially people smacked their lips in the context of eating and drinking and, later, kissing, but by the early 19th century the word was being used in the sense of hitting someone. The smack that is a kind of sailing vessel is also Dutch, while the slang word for ‘heroin’ is probably from Yiddish schmeck, ‘a sniff, a smell’, from the same Germanic root as the Old English smack.
For editors and proofreaders
Line breaks: smack
Definition of smack in:
- US English dictionary
- English synonyms
- US English synonyms
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