whiplash

noun

1. (countable)The lash of a whip.
2. (countable, uncountable)An injury to the upper spine connected to a violent jerk of the head in either a backward or forward or side to side direction, resembling the motion of a whip.

   “Of the nine staff in the third coach, most had been having a break, drinking tea or reading. One suffered a fractured skull, another a fractured shoulder. All were either thrown along or across the coach, sustaining cuts, bruising and whiplash injuries.”

3. (countable, figuratively, uncountable)An abrupt and unexpected change, or the resulting feeling of shock.

   “tonal whiplash”

   “Some parents, feeling too hurt by the push-off or taking their teenager’s rejections too personally, choose to make themselves unavailable. In some ways it does feel better to avoid episodes of emotional whiplash.”

   “A week of public health reversals from the White House and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has left Americans with pandemic whiplash, sowing confusion about coronavirus vaccines and mask-wearing as the Delta variant upends what people thought they knew about how to stay safe.”

   “And he talked about the “whiplash” he often feels when it comes to A.I. these days, as some people urge companies like Google to move faster on A.I., release more products and take bigger risks, while others urge them to slow down and be more cautious.”

verb

1. To jerk back and forth; to buffet.

   “[…] Ms. Kennedy has been whiplashed by assertions that she is at once protected and presumptuous.”

2. To lash as if with a whip.

   “After a while, he let go of my hand in order to protect his own face from being whiplashed by the low branches.”