flail
Example Sentences
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A national brand-name institution with a $2.5 billion endowment and a storied 150-year tradition is suddenly beginning to flail.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 30, 2026
With the USA bats continuing to flail against Rodriguez, the Venezuelans doubled their lead in the top of the fifth inning.
From Barron's ● Mar. 18, 2026
He opened the unlocked door of a police vehicle, climbed into the back and began to flail in distress.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 24, 2026
Yet Apple TV+, in raw viewership terms, continues to flail.
From Slate ● Jan. 16, 2025
I offer to take a bunk, but they make me keep to the floor mattress since I flail around so much when I’m sleeping.
From "Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins
In chatty yet carefully measured tunes with nearly as many hooks as words, McRae illuminates the accumulated humiliations and misunderstandings against which every couple flails.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 5, 2025
When he flails the way he did in the playoffs last year, it’s bound to raise suspicions that he’s distracted or not entirely invested in the sport in which he makes his living.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 13, 2024
Men wore black, rhythmically beating their chests in mourning or using flails to strike their backs.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 28, 2023
Even here, within the safe space of his own overlong and clangy movies, he flails for an identity.
From New York Times ● Mar. 16, 2023
He slithers up to a note, hits it, flails, recovers, oozes in the direction of another note.
From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood
The new storefronts have especially been a boon for malls, which flailed after the rise of online shopping.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
Stagflation set in, and the Nixon, Ford and Carter administrations all flailed helplessly at the beast.
From Barron's ● Mar. 13, 2026
They attacked the game, while Rangers flailed wildly.
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2025
But throughout the 2025 Emmys telecast, the nice guy comic flailed in the deep end of a flop sweat pool.
From Salon ● Sep. 15, 2025
Bast flailed his hands franticly at Chronicler’s head.“Quiet!” he hissed.
From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss
This constant threat has fuelled massive internal displacement and severe labour shortages in an already flailing economy, and sent people fleeing to neighbouring countries.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026
"There are farmers really flailing away" and drastically concerned about fuel costs, Joe Logan, interim president of the Ohio Farmers Union, told AFP.
From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026
Now a respected New Yorker magazine writer promoting his forthcoming book on the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Michael is contacted by Lou, who has been flailing since returning to the States.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
The ambitious Mr. Khanna has instead tried to distinguish himself by flailing after every bandwagon that goes by, from Jeffrey Epstein and billionaire wealth taxes to AI regulation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026
The only thing he could do was leave it on the grass, flailing about, and go away for a bit.
From "I'm the King of the Castle" by Susan Hill
Vocabulary lists containing flail
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The Diary of Anne Frank
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Touching Spirit Bear
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