whippersnapper

[ hwip-er-snap-er, wip- ]

noun

1. an unimportant but offensively presumptuous person, especially a young one.

whippersnapper

/ ˈwɪpəˌsnæpə /

noun

1. an insignificant but pretentious or cheeky person, often a young one Also calledwhipster

Word History and Origins

Origin of whippersnapper¹

1665–75; probably blend of earlier whipster and snippersnapper, similar in sense; whip, snap, -er ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of whippersnapper¹

C17: probably from whipsnapper a person who snaps whips, influenced by earlier snippersnapper, of obscure origin

Example Sentences

A late-career lark for Steve Martin and Martin Short has become a beloved television institution; teamed with relative whippersnapper Selena Gomez, they form a comedy trio like none other.

From Los Angeles Times

The whippersnapper was about 5 to 7 years old, some 4 meters long, and weighed about 350 kilograms—as much as a large domestic pig, and about 1/10 the heft of its parent.

From Science Magazine

Bankman-Fried was a pretrial whippersnapper in other respects.

From Slate

“I’m 72 and I’m a young whippersnapper here in The Villages,” said Diane Foley, the president of The Villages Democratic Club at the Republican-tilted mega-retirement community in Florida, who encouraged Mr. Biden to run again.

From New York Times

Ms. Pelosi is “a once-in-a-century kind of figure, but there are other great leaders here,” said Representative Jamie Raskin, Democrat of Maryland, who, at 59, qualifies as something of a whippersnapper in an aging Congress.

From New York Times

Related Words

• baby
• boy
• daughter
• girl
• juvenile
• kid
• minor
• offspring
• son
• youngster
• youth