flail about

verb

To wave one's arms (or upper body) about violently, rather like a flail.

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Meanings

verbflail about (third-person singular simple present flails about, present participle flailing about, simple past and past participle flailed about)

present singular third person flails about · participle present flailing about · participle past flailed about · past flailed about

  1. intransitiveTo wave one's arms (or upper body) about violently, rather like a flail.

    Barry continued to shout obscenities and to flail about in a strait jacket, finally succumbing to the effects of intravenously administered tranquilizers.

    1969, Theodore Millon, Modern Psychopathology: A Biosocial Approach to Maladaptive Learning and Functioning
  2. figurativelyintransitiveTo make efforts that are strenuous but disorganized and ineffectual.
Cite this entry
APA

flail about. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/flail%20about

MLA

“flail about.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/flail%20about. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “flail about,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/flail%20about.

Source: flail about on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.