as in hints
an almost imperceptible sign of something
even a whiff of appreciation for everything I've done for her would have been nice
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Recent Examples of whiffs
Mitch Bannon, New York Times, 16 Oct. 2025
Last week, the Steelers started rolling through their run game thanks to several whiffs by Patriots defenders over their first two drives.
—Andrew Callahan, Boston Herald, 28 Sep. 2025
Farris struck out five, and got 16 whiffs.
—Jeff Fletcher, Oc Register, 26 Sep. 2025
Additionally, Ragans finished with 37 swings and 13 whiffs in his return start.
—Jaylon Thompson, Kansas City Star, 18 Sep. 2025
The first whiffs of police teargas came before daybreak, with scuffles between riot officers and protesters in Paris.
—Dan Gooding
jason Lemon, MSNBC Newsweek, 18 Sep. 2025
Peterson used his sinker to induce ground-balls, and a changeup below the zone got whiffs.
—Abbey Mastracco, New York Daily News, 20 Aug. 2025
Arizona right-hander Nabil Crismatt, called up from Triple-A Reno for Sunday’s start, flummoxed Rockies hitters with his 82 mph changeup, generating nine whiffs on 15 swings.
—Patrick Saunders, Denver Post, 17 Aug. 2025
Of course, the nine-year vet still needs 2,411 whiffs to get there.
—Ryan Ford, Freep.com, 11 Aug. 2025
David Sims, The Atlantic, 14 Nov. 2025
Given Eldridge’s offensive profile, there will likely always be a fair amount of strikeouts and whiffs in his game.
—Justice Delos Santos, Mercury News, 21 Sep. 2025
Noun
Bieber’s slider spun off the outside corner for a total of 13 whiffs and called strikes.
—Verb
Both whiffs only further reminded me what a top-tier star Clooney used to be, and these staid recent efforts help meta-textually burnish Jay Kelly’s initial setup.
—Recent Examples of Synonyms for whiffs
Noun
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The governor-elect’s plans provide hints of how progressives elsewhere will try to tackle affordability problems.—
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No arrests have been announced, nor have police offered any hints for a motive for the killing.—
Verb
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Monaci Delle Terre Nere is the way that the air smells like lavender, and a little like ash, from nearby Mount Etna.—
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Food smells, trash, compost bins, and yard debris attract hungry mice when winter limits natural food sources.—
Noun
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The rooms Rooms in the Contemporary’s main tower were recently refurbished to feature touches from Disney’s The Incredibles franchise, which reflects the hotel’s midcentury theme.—
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Yet these touches are never extreme or imaginative or entertaining enough to match, say, the wild ride that was The Hunting Wives.—
Verb
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In the video, Chilli sniffs large bricks to locate the scent a trainer shared with him.—
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Tovar is the one officer who immediately sniffs out that there’s something weird about Gacy, and Luna incrementally nudges the character further and further into obsession.—
Noun
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From there, the glimmers of a more peaceful existence — one fueled by expression, not recklessness — give Lidia hope.—
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This year, there were glimmers of affordability, with some states like Florida, Texas, and California seeing average home prices decline in 2025 from their peaks.—
Noun
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But things get weird when Kamala sees flickers of zombie faces in the crowd.—
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Foster’s tenure had flickers of momentum.—
Cite this Entry
“Whiffs.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/whiffs. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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