as in blow
informal
a situation that is bad in two different ways; a situation in which two bad conditions exist at the same time or two bad things happen one after the other
With the cold weather and the high cost of heating fuel, homeowners were hit with a double whammy this winter.
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Recent Examples of double whammy
But fear not, because there is a solution to this double whammy: innovation.
—
Forrester, Forbes, 25 Nov. 2024
Heat waves after the hurricanes passed, when people had no electricity, often caused a double whammy in impacts, Dahl said.
—Ramon Padilla, USA TODAY, 31 Dec. 2024
The devastating tornadoes that swept through Rolling Fork, Mississippi, in March 2023 were a double whammy for Andrea Williams, who was looking forward to celebrating her birthday that day.
—Daniel De Visé, USA TODAY, 26 Dec. 2024
The flag was a double whammy — not only did Kansas City lose a first down, but the 10 yards also moved the team out of field goal range.
—Rohan Nadkarni, NBC News, 25 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for double whammy 
Forrester, Forbes, 25 Nov. 2024
Heat waves after the hurricanes passed, when people had no electricity, often caused a double whammy in impacts, Dahl said.
—Ramon Padilla, USA TODAY, 31 Dec. 2024
The devastating tornadoes that swept through Rolling Fork, Mississippi, in March 2023 were a double whammy for Andrea Williams, who was looking forward to celebrating her birthday that day.
—Daniel De Visé, USA TODAY, 26 Dec. 2024
The flag was a double whammy — not only did Kansas City lose a first down, but the 10 yards also moved the team out of field goal range.
—Rohan Nadkarni, NBC News, 25 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for double whammy
Recent Examples of Synonyms for double whammy
Noun
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However, this is a huge win for City and a devastating blow for England’s top flight.—
Dan Sheldon,
The Athletic,
15 Feb. 2025
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The new season of Kitchen Nightmares has seen the star chef come to blows with restaurant owners over practices such as sending out raw hamburgers and (in last week’s episode) appearing to give customers food poisoning.—
Bailey Richards,
People.com,
14 Feb. 2025
Noun
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Whether it‘s picking apart the factors that led to the chain filing for bankruptcy (and the postmortem of its endless-shrimp disaster), recruiting top talent for his C-suite, or ensuring more restaurants don’t have to close, Adamolekun has plenty of issues to bait his temper.—
Chris Morris,
Fortune,
10 Feb. 2025
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Well, speaking of process versus outcome, that's a disaster.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
9 Feb. 2025
Noun
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In many ways, Payne’s life and death have the familiar contours of a pop tragedy: a young artist, whose talents were often at odds with his demons, experiencing the apex of stardom as well as its depths.—
Federico Fahsbender,
Rolling Stone,
11 Feb. 2025
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That applies, too, to the unusual case of the Jews, scattered to the winds and reconvening 2,000 years (and one extraordinary tragedy) later in Israel.—
Justin Gest,
Newsweek,
11 Feb. 2025
Thesaurus Entries Near double whammy
Cite this Entry
“Double whammy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/double%20whammy. Accessed 22 Feb. 2025.
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