whoa
English · Thesaurus
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Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
whoa
- /wəʊ/ UK
- /ʍəʊ/ UK
- /woʊ/ US
- /ʍoʊ/ US
Sounds like woe (wine–whine merger) · Rhymes with -əʊ
Where it comes from
Whoa (c. 1843) is a variant of woa (c. 1840), itself a variant of wo (c. 1787), from who (c. 1450), ultimately from Middle English ho, hoo (interjection), probably from Old Norse hó! (interjection, also, a shepherd's call). Compare German ho, Old French ho ! (“hold!, halt!”).
interjection woa · woah · whoah
- Stop (especially when commanding a horse or imitative thereof); calm down; slow down. Whoa, Nelly!
- An expression of surprise. Whoa, are you serious?
- Used as a meaningless filler in song lyrics. I am the type who is liable to snipe you With two seconds left to go, whoa.
verb whoas · whoaing · whoaed · woa · woah
- To attempt to slow (an animal) by crying "whoa". He was whoaing the horses loudly, and they did seem to be going faster than usual—in fact, they were galloping.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: aww, ooh, whew, holla, whoo, wow, whoosh, slowly, damn, softly, gently, relax, phwoar, titan, quiet, stop
Translations
Talk about this word "whoa." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/whoa. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. whoa. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/whoa "whoa." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/whoa.Cite this
@misc{whoa_2026,
title = {whoa},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/whoa},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
