plank
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /plæŋk/
rhymes: -æŋk
homophone: Planck
Forms: form: planks
Etymology: From Middle English plank, planke, borrowed from Old French planke, Old Northern French planque (compare French planche, from Old French planche), from Vulgar Latin planca, from palanca, from Latin phalanga. The Latin term derives from the Ancient Greek φάλαγξ (phálanx), so it is thus a doublet of phalange and phalanx. Compare also the doublets planch and planche, and plancha, borrowed later from Middle French, Modern French, and Spanish, respectively.
Senses: glosses: A long, broad and thick piece of timber, as opposed to a board which is less thick.
examples: text: Germanization was a central plank of German conservative thinking in the 19th and 20th centuries.
text: When Mr. Dole had been asked at the Republican convention about the same immigration amendment—one of the more conservative and sensitive planks—he did not oppose it, but said he would have to think long and hard before supporting it.
ref: 1996 August 24, Frank Bruni, “Dole Rejects a Party Plank”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
text: In the 1970s, a group of ideologically inspired economists captured the ears and minds of politicians. The central plank of their ‘neo-liberal’ model was that growth and development depended on market competitiveness; […]
ref: 2011, Guy Standing, chapter 1, in The Precariat, Bloomsbury Publishing, published 2016, →ISBN:
text: The party, whose official name (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen) translates as Alliance '90/The Greens, grew out of an assortment of social protest movements of the 1980s that eventually unified. Their supporters marched for everything from ending nuclear power to enacting gay rights — while maintaining the key plank of environmental protection.
ref: 2025 February 24, Rina Goldenberg, “A guide to Germany's political parties”, in Deutsche Welle:
holonyms: platform
glosses: A political issue that is of concern to a faction or a party of the people and the political position that is taken on that issue.
glosses: Physical exercise in which one holds a pushup position for a measured length of time.
synonyms: word: addle-brain
word: addlehead
word: addle pate
word: airhead
word: baboon
word: beanbrain
word: beetlebrain
word: beetlehead
word: berk
word: bimbo
word: birdbrain
word: blockhead
word: blubberbrain
word: bonehead
word: Boeotian
word: boob
word: bozo
word: brainlet
word: brickhead
word: bubblehead
word: bubble brain
word: bufflehead
word: buffoon
word: Charlie
raw_tags: with "right" and/or "proper"
word: chowderhead
word: chucklehead
word: chump
word: cittern-head
word: clod
word: clodpate
word: clot
word: clown
word: crackhead
word: cretin
word: cuckoo
word: deadhead
word: dimbo
word: dim bulb
word: dimbus
word: dimwit
word: dingbat
word: ding dong
word: dingleberry
word: dingwad
word: dip
word: dipstick
word: doldrum
word: dolt
word: donut
word: doodle
word: doof
word: doofoid
word: doofus
word: dope
word: dork
word: drivel
word: drongo
word: drool bucket
word: dullard
word: dumb bunny
word: dumbbell
word: dumb cluck
word: dumbhead
word: dumble
word: dumbling
word: dumbnut
word: dumbo
word: dummkopf
word: dummy
word: dunce
word: dunderhead
word: dunderpate
word: eejit
word: fathead
word: featherbrain
word: fenderhead
word: fleabrain
word: fool
word: fopdoodle
word: galoot
word: gimboid
word: gomer
word: gonk
word: goober
word: goof
word: goofball
word: goofy
word: goose
word: goosecap
word: gorbuson
word: gudgeon
word: halfwit
word: ha'porth
word: hammerhead
word: idiot
word: ignoramus
word: imbecile
word: inbred
word: jackaninny
word: jellybrain
word: jerk
word: juggins
word: jughead
word: knothead
word: knucklehead
word: lackwit
word: lamebrain
word: log
word: loggerhead
word: lummox
word: lunk
word: lunkhead
word: maroon
word: meatball
word: meathead
word: mental midget
word: mome
word: momo
word: mongoloid
word: mongtard
word: monkey
word: moron
word: mouth breather
word: muggins
word: mushhead
word: muttonhead
word: mutt
word: nimrod
word: nincompoop
word: ninny
word: ninnyhammer
word: nit
word: nitwit
word: noddy
word: noodlehead
word: numbskull
word: oaf
word: peabrain
word: peagoose
word: pillock
word: pigwidgeon
word: pinhead
word: plank
word: plonker
word: prat
word: put
word: putz
word: retard
word: sap
word: saphead
word: schmo
word: silly
word: simp
word: simpleton
word: snapperhead
word: sot
word: space cadet
word: spanner
word: stupe
word: stupid
word: stupid-head
word: tomfool
word: tard
word: thickhead
word: thickskull
word: thicko
word: tonto
word: toolbox
word: tosspot
word: turkey
word: twit
word: wally
word: wantwit
word: wazzer
word: wazzock
word: witless wonder
word: yo-yo
word: zany
word: Vulgar:
word: ass
word: assclown
word: asshat
word: asshead
word: asstard
word: asswipe
word: buttbreath
word: dildo
word: dipshit
word: donkey dick
word: Alternative spelling of dumbass.
word: dumbfuck
word: dumbfucker
word: dumbshit
word: farthead
word: fuck-knuckle
word: fucktard
word: fuckwit
word: jackass
word: peckerhead
word: shitbrain
word: shithead
word: shitneck
word: shitwit
word: twat
glosses: A stupid person, idiot.
examples: text: His charity is a better plank than the faith of an intolerant and bitter-minded bigot.
ref: 1829, Robert Southey, Sir Thomas More; or, Colloquies on the Progress and Prospects of Society:
glosses: That which supports or upholds.
Derived terms: Copenhagen plank
gang plank
gang-plank
gangplank
hub plank
plankage
plank bed
plankboard
plank down
planker
plankless
planklike
plank road
plank root
plank-sheer
plank spanker
plank up
plankway
plankwise
planky
replank
side plank
spike plank
stage plank
stop plank
thick as a plank
toe the plank
two-forty on a plank road
unplank
walk the plank