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  1. whippersnapper love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. A person regarded as insignificant and pretentious.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. A shallow, insignificant person; a whipster: also used attributively.

Wiktionary

  1. n. a young and cheeky or presumptuous person

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. colloq. A diminutive, insignificant, or presumptuous person.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. someone who is unimportant but cheeky and presumptuous

Etymologies

  1. Alteration (influenced by whip) of dialectal snippersnapper. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “Is some 84 year old entrenched congressman going to substancially change his lifestyle and voting record because of some young whippersnapper is elected president?”

    Waxman-Dingell Showdown - Swampland - TIME.com

  • “A whippersnapper was a whip that was all coiled up and if you flipped your wrist it would”

    Discussion Forum - TuDiabetes - A Community for People Touched by Diabetes

  • “When I spell-checked this post, it didn't recognize "whippersnapper" and, and as an alternative recommended "hyperkinetic.”

    Willie, My Momma, and Me

  • “As much as I've received the "whippersnapper" treatment from older music fans, they're probably right in the belief that today's rock bands can't hold a candle to”

    Latest stories

  • “Drought called to temporary end in O.C. UCI to study brain of 107 year-old 'whippersnapper”

    The Orange County Register - Homepage

  • “Pre-Beijing I was ranked second in the world in the 200 metres IM individual medley," Whorwood says, "but two Chinese came along and knocked me down to fourth, and now this young whippersnapper from Ukraine's come along so there's a battle just for fourth or fifth.”

    The Guardian: Matt Whorwood is lining up all his likely London 2012 rivals

  • “Dawg is closing in on 68 years old and lives in Mexico as he has for the past nine years but there was a time when I might have preferred to live in Manhattan over Mexico but that time is 15 years behind me as as I get older small towns are more to my liking than they were when I was a whippersnapper and huge cities irritate me more than please me.”

    Page 2

  • “And seem to have no idea how very irksome that idea will get once we no longer feel any sympathy for the young whippersnapper.”

    More Doctor Who Speculation...

  • “A young whippersnapper had been able to take liberties with it.”

    Chapter XXII

  • “She showed a burly young whippersnapper that he should mind his manners and manage his nasty temper.”

    Simon & Schuster: Chicken Soup for the Soul: Grandmothers

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hypernyms (4)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. nonentity
  1. cypher
  1. nobody
  1. cipher

same context (47)

Words that are found in similar contexts

  1. titling
  2. barracoon
  3. family
  4. underweight
  5. malapert
  6. obtrusion
  7. topknot
  8. assembly
  9. egghead
  1. drip-drip
  2. waiting-maid
  3. hair-cut
  4. lady's maid
  5. archness
  6. landlubber
  7. cellarage
  8. skilfulness
  9. city
  1. self-activity
  2. kaldane
  3. picaroon
  4. feller-me-lad
  5. enginery
  6. crossbreeding
  7. fatso
  8. huzzy
  9. obtrusiveness
  1. lute-player
  2. lachecis
  3. good-for-nothingness
  4. gadfly
  5. fellow
  6. rapscallion
  7. stepdame
  8. noisemaker
  9. recreate
  1. well-characterized
  2. stodginess
  3. Socinian
  4. closely-allied
  5. come-hither
  6. discolouration
  7. click-clack
  8. thing
  9. place
  1. alive
  2. patimur

reverse dictionary (1)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. whipster

tags (2)

Free-form, user-generated categorization

  1. fun to say
  1. ccvccvcccvccvc

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Lists

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Comments

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  • thesaraheffect It is possible to describe anyone as both "old" and "cheeky"? Oct 11, 2009

  • Telofy “ ‘Thou wretch!—thou vixen!—thou shrew!’ said I to my wife on the morning after our wedding; ‘thou witch!—thou hag!—thou whippersnapper—thou sink of iniquity!—thou fiery-faced quintessence of all that is abominable!—thou—thou—’ here standing upon tiptoe, seizing her by the throat, and placing my mouth close to her ear, I was preparing to launch forth a new and more decided epithet of opprobrium, which should not fail, if ejaculated, to convince her of her insignificance, when to my extreme horror and astonishment I discovered that I had lost my breath.”
    —Loss of Breath by Edgar Allan Poe Oct 10, 2009

  • reesetee The snappy ones, of course. Jun 24, 2008

  • asativum Not to snipe or be snippy, but snappywhippers whip snaps; whippersnappers snap whips. But which whips do whippersnappers snap? Jun 21, 2008

  • reesetee I think old whippersnappers would probably suffer whiplash if they snapped their whips. Or whipped their snaps. Jun 20, 2008

  • bilby What if you fed a plate of peas to a young whippersnapper? How many p's would it contain then? Jun 20, 2008

  • asativum Never before. I shudder to think of meeting an old whippersnapper. Jun 20, 2008

  • skipvia Well, I guess if the shoe fits... Jun 20, 2008

  • Prolagus Oh shut up, y'ol' whippersnapper! Jun 20, 2008

  • skipvia Have you ever heard this word used when it was not preceded by "young?" Jun 20, 2008

  • brandelion words with four p's, or four of any letter, are somehow more magically crunchy than other words. extra marshmallowy delightful. Dec 25, 2006

  • oroboros contains 4 p's Dec 2, 2006

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‘whippersnapper’ has been looked up 2677 times, loved by 6 people, added to 58 lists, commented on 12 times, and has a Scrabble score of 22.