1
: remarkable of its kind
2
: being fresh and strong : brisk
Synonyms
Adjective
- active
- airy
- animate
- animated
- bouncing
- brisk
- energetic
- frisky
- gay
- jaunty
- jazzy
- kinetic
- lively
- mettlesome
- peppy
- perky
- pert
- pizzazzy
- pizazzy
- racy
- snappy
- sparky
- spirited
- sprightly
- springy
- vital
- vivacious
- zippy
Adverb
- achingly
- almighty
- archly
- awful
- awfully
- badly
- beastly
- blisteringly
- bone
- colossally
- corking
- cracking
- damn
- damned
- dang
- deadly
- desperately
- eminently
- enormously
- especially
- ever
- exceedingly
- exceeding
- extra
- extremely
- fabulously
- fantastically
- far
- fiercely
- filthy
- frightfully
- full
- greatly
- heavily
- highly
- hugely
- immensely
- incredibly
- intensely
- jolly
- majorly
- mightily
- mighty
- monstrous [chiefly dialect]
- mortally
- most
- much
- particularly
- passing
- rattling
- real
- really
- right
- roaring
- roaringly
- seriously
- severely
- so
- sore
- sorely
- specially
- stinking
- such
- super
- supremely
- surpassingly
- terribly
- that
- thumping
- too
- unco
- uncommonly
- vastly
- very
- vitally
- way
- whacking
- wicked
- wildly
Examples of spanking in a Sentence
Adjective
a spanking and speedy little horse
Adverb
He keeps his apartment spanking clean.
the bathroom tiles were spanking white when she finished cleaning them
Recent Examples on the Web
Andrew Van Dam, Washington Post, 5 Apr. 2024
Paparazzi snapped the power couple headed to their spanking new superyacht, Seven, in a dinghy.
—Madeleine Marr, Miami Herald, 29 Mar. 2024
We’d been regularly hit by our father with a spanking spoon for talking back and fighting.
—Lyz Lenz, Rolling Stone, 16 Feb. 2024
But the 98-room hotel — occupying floors 40 to 45 of a spanking new mixed-use tower above Tokyo Station in the salary-man district of Chiyoda — is also a first for the brand.
—Christopher Cameron, Robb Report, 16 May 2023
My Cat looks tiny and out-of-place among the spanking new hot rods parked out front.
—John Schandelmeier, Anchorage Daily News, 26 Mar. 2023
After the spanking incident, Blount players posted a video in support of Harris.
—Ben Thomas | Bthomas@al.com, al, 8 Jan. 2023
These are hard-to-excuse deficiencies in a spanking-new design, but this Saab is hardly a loser.
—Don Schroeder, Car and Driver, 3 Jan. 2023
At the spanking-new Aman, well-heeled New Yorkers are finally returning to the illustrious Crown Building.
—Tony Perrottet, Condé Nast Traveler, 6 Dec. 2022
Christina Capatides, CBS News, 11 May 2018
Is this just about opportunistic politicians dipping into state coffers so they can be photographed cutting the ribbon at a spanking new factory?
—New York Times, 8 May 2018
Their long-somnolent town is suddenly encountering a group of international urbanites with gleamingly expensive and outlandishly new equipment: sophisticated farm machinery, spanking new mobile homes, Rolls Royces.
—Wendla McGovern, The New Republic, 12 Apr. 2018
Adjective
Owner Ted Leonsis will not move to a spanking new facility in Northern Virginia.
—Andrew Van Dam, Washington Post, 5 Apr. 2024
Paparazzi snapped the power couple headed to their spanking new superyacht, Seven, in a dinghy.
—Madeleine Marr, Miami Herald, 29 Mar. 2024
We’d been regularly hit by our father with a spanking spoon for talking back and fighting.
—Lyz Lenz, Rolling Stone, 16 Feb. 2024
But the 98-room hotel — occupying floors 40 to 45 of a spanking new mixed-use tower above Tokyo Station in the salary-man district of Chiyoda — is also a first for the brand.
—Christopher Cameron, Robb Report, 16 May 2023
My Cat looks tiny and out-of-place among the spanking new hot rods parked out front.
—John Schandelmeier, Anchorage Daily News, 26 Mar. 2023
After the spanking incident, Blount players posted a video in support of Harris.
—Ben Thomas | Bthomas@al.com, al, 8 Jan. 2023
These are hard-to-excuse deficiencies in a spanking-new design, but this Saab is hardly a loser.
—Don Schroeder, Car and Driver, 3 Jan. 2023
At the spanking-new Aman, well-heeled New Yorkers are finally returning to the illustrious Crown Building.
—Tony Perrottet, Condé Nast Traveler, 6 Dec. 2022
Adverb
There was Vice President Biden's inaugural bromance selfie with President Obama on his brand spanking new Instagram account.
—Christina Capatides, CBS News, 11 May 2018
Is this just about opportunistic politicians dipping into state coffers so they can be photographed cutting the ribbon at a spanking new factory?
—New York Times, 8 May 2018
Their long-somnolent town is suddenly encountering a group of international urbanites with gleamingly expensive and outlandishly new equipment: sophisticated farm machinery, spanking new mobile homes, Rolls Royces.
—Wendla McGovern, The New Republic, 12 Apr. 2018
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'spanking.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near spanking
Cite this Entry
“Spanking.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spanking. Accessed 20 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
spanking
1 of 2 adjective
spank·ing
ˈspaŋ-kiŋ 
: brisk sense 1, lively
a spanking breeze
spanking
2 of 2 adverb
: very entry 2 sense 2
a spanking clean floor
spanking new
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