Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- n. A person regarded as insignificant and pretentious.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- n. a young and cheeky or presumptuous person
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- n. A diminutive, insignificant, or presumptuous person.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A shallow, insignificant person; a whipster: also used attributively.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- n. someone who is unimportant but cheeky and presumptuous
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
Examples
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Is some 84 year old entrenched congressman going to substancially change his lifestyle and voting record because of some young whippersnapper is elected president?
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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
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When I spell-checked this post, it didn't recognize "whippersnapper" and, and as an alternative recommended "hyperkinetic."
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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
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Drought called to temporary end in O.C. UCI to study brain of 107 year-old 'whippersnapper'
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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.
Matt Whorwood is lining up all his likely London 2012 rivals
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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.
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And seem to have no idea how very irksome that idea will get once we no longer feel any sympathy for the young whippersnapper.
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A young whippersnapper had been able to take liberties with it.
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She showed a burly young whippersnapper that he should mind his manners and manage his nasty temper.
thesaraheffect commented on the word whippersnapper
It is possible to describe anyone as both "old" and "cheeky"?
October 11, 2009
Telofy commented on the word whippersnapper
“ ‘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
October 10, 2009
reesetee commented on the word whippersnapper
The snappy ones, of course.
June 24, 2008
asativum commented on the word whippersnapper
Not to snipe or be snippy, but snappywhippers whip snaps; whippersnappers snap whips. But which whips do whippersnappers snap?
June 21, 2008
reesetee commented on the word whippersnapper
I think old whippersnappers would probably suffer whiplash if they snapped their whips. Or whipped their snaps.
June 20, 2008
bilby commented on the word whippersnapper
What if you fed a plate of peas to a young whippersnapper? How many p's would it contain then?
June 20, 2008
asativum commented on the word whippersnapper
Never before. I shudder to think of meeting an old whippersnapper.
June 20, 2008
skipvia commented on the word whippersnapper
Well, I guess if the shoe fits...
June 20, 2008
Prolagus commented on the word whippersnapper
Oh shut up, y'ol' whippersnapper!
June 20, 2008
skipvia commented on the word whippersnapper
Have you ever heard this word used when it was not preceded by "young?"
June 20, 2008
brandelion commented on the word whippersnapper
words with four p's, or four of any letter, are somehow more magically crunchy than other words. extra marshmallowy delightful.
December 25, 2006
oroboros commented on the word whippersnapper
contains 4 p's
December 2, 2006