How to Use flail in a Sentence

flail

verb
  • The bird's wings flailed the water.
  • They were flailing their arms to drive away the insects.
  • He was wildly flailing about on the dance floor.
  • The wounded animal lay on the ground, flailing helplessly.
  • His left leg flailed a bit in the air.
    — Vinson Cunningham, New Yorker, 21 Feb. 2026
  • Bynum ran toward his end zone and began to flail around.
    — Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 7 Sep. 2025
  • Why are we are left to flail in the wind when others are included?
    — Doris Bittar, San Diego Union-Tribune, 18 Nov. 2020
  • In his early teen years, Drew had begun to flail in school.
    — Ariane Lange, Sacbee.com, 13 Nov. 2025
  • And that left Buzelis as the sole spark for a flailing Bulls team.
    — Julia Poe, Chicago Tribune, 6 Jan. 2026
  • Gorman flailed at a 96 mph full-count four-seamer.
    — Matt Kawahara, Houston Chronicle, 19 Apr. 2026
  • Or the weak one may flail about for his whole life, trying to catch up to the one who always won.
    — Christine Smallwood, Harpers Magazine, 24 Mar. 2026
  • Williams then flailed his arms behind him and slapped Doncic in the throat.
    — Broderick Turner, Los Angeles Times, 28 Mar. 2026
  • The 16-year-old flails her arms, thrashes and kicks — sometimes for hours.
    — Calmatters, Oc Register, 5 Dec. 2025
  • The 7-foot-4 phenom then flailed his right arm back and struck Reid in the neck.
    — Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 11 May 2026
  • No sense in wasting your time on flailing around to solve a knotty problem.
    — Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 14 Aug. 2025
  • Rangzen appears to flail and takes several steps as the fire consumes him.
    — Thomas Tracy, New York Daily News, 4 July 2026
  • Avoid swatting at the bees or flailing your arms, which can aggravate the bees.
    — Aliza Chasan, CBS News, 20 Sep. 2023
  • The entire cast is flailing around like a bunch of Sims who have been trapped in a room with no doors.
    — Olivia Crandall, Vulture, 8 Aug. 2025
  • The force was enough to send Romero flailing to the turf, bringing out a yellow card.
    — Kyle Kensing, San Diego Union-Tribune, 12 Apr. 2026
  • So, keep dangerous items, like hot coffee, well out of reach of their flailing hands.
    — Parents Editors, Parents, 7 June 2023
  • There on the snow is a rabbit the size of my new kitten, flailing its poor little head back and forth.
    — Alison Fishburn, Longreads, 23 Oct. 2019
  • Do yourself a favor and take an hour to flail and dance around your house to any of her music while shrieking.
    — Anne Nickoloff, cleveland, 21 Apr. 2020
  • Weeks 3 and 4, when Denver was flailing.
    — Troy Renck, Denver Post, 18 Sep. 2025
  • The movie’s flailing cops attempt to contain the impact.
    — John Hopewell, Variety, 22 Jan. 2026
  • My Taco Bell order is now $72 … this dude is flailing.
    — Natalie Oganesyan, Deadline, 17 Nov. 2025
  • The grieving mother starts to shriek and flail in the pew; Cherizier towels off his head.
    — Jason Motlagh, Rolling Stone, 26 Nov. 2023
  • Trump’s campaign to remain in power was already in full, if flailing, swing.
    — Danny Hakim, New York Times, 8 Jan. 2024
  • The seat belt slipped off the dummy’s shoulder and the dummy’s head and torso flailed far outside the seat.
    — Daniela Porat, ProPublica, 6 Feb. 2020
  • This was no ordinary offense that the Dodgers left flailing.
    — Jeff Fletcher, Oc Register, 18 Oct. 2025
  • Sam is oftentimes flailing around.
    — Abbey White, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'flail.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: