Pronunciations
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/flæk/
Verb
To flutter; palpitate.
Usage- Intransitive
- Obsolete
To hang loosely; flag.
Usage- UK usage
- dialectal
- Intransitive
To beat by flapping.
Usage- UK usage
- dialectal
- Transitive
Noun
A publicist, a publicity agent.
Usage- Canada
- US usage
- Examples
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More examples (1)
Edward Bernay, who was a consultant to the US Delegation to the Versailles Peace Conference which terminated the first World War (and who finally wound up as a flack for the United Fruit Company in Latin America), believed that propaganda and its covert marketing could effectively alter the will of the American public.
Thought you were flack," she said. "I'm not flack." "All right, P.R., a reporter, a novelist."
More examples (1)
In July, Nick Clegg, a former Deputy Prime Minister of the U.K. who is now a top flack at Facebook, published a piece on AdAge.com and on the company’s official blog titled “Facebook Does Not Benefit from Hate,” in which he wrote, “There is no incentive for us to do anything but remove it.”
And he [Ben Shapiro] called Stephen K. Bannon, the onetime chief strategist for Mr. Trump, a former “P.R. flack for Jeffrey Epstein.”
Verb
To publicise, to promote.
Usage- Canada
- US usage
- Examples
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[..] he told funny stories about his early days in the theater district, flacking shows up and down the street, but Klara wasn’t listening.
Noun
a slick spokesperson who can turn any criticism to the advantage of their employer
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
intense adverse criticism
- Broader terms
- Examples
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Clinton directed his fire at the Republican Party
the government has come under attack
More examples (1)
don't give me any flak
artillery designed to shoot upward at airplanes
- Broader terms