Word Study
flak
OXFORD DICTIONARY
flak, n. (also flack)
1 anti-aircraft fire.
2 adverse criticism; abuse.
1 anti-aircraft fire.
2 adverse criticism; abuse.
Idiom
flak jacket a protective jacket of heavy camouflage fabric reinforced with metal, worn by soldiers etc.
Etymology
abbr. of G Fliegerabwehrkanone, lit. aviator-defence-gun
THESAURUS
flak
abuse, adverse criticism, aggressiveness, animadversion, antiaircraft fire, artillery, aspersion, bad notices, bad press, battery, bellicosity, belligerence, bickering, blame, cannon, cannonry, captiousness, carping, cavil, caviling, censoriousness, censure, coast artillery, combativeness, complaints, condemnation, contentiousness, criticism, cross fire, curtain fire, direct fire, disapprobation, disapproval, dissension, dissent, dissidence, dry fire, exception, faction, factiousness, faultfinding, field artillery, file fire, fire, fire of demolition, firepower, fireworks, firing, flack, ground fire, gunfight, gunfire, gunplay, hairsplitting, heavy field artillery, high-angle fire, hit, home thrust, horizontal fire, hostile criticism, hypercriticalness, hypercriticism, imputation, infighting, interdiction fire, irascibility, irritability, knock, litigiousness, machine-gun fire, mortar fire, musketry, nagging, niggle, niggling, nit, nit-picking, obloquy, ordnance, overcriticalness, partisan spirit, partisanship, percussion fire, pestering, pettifogging, pistol fire, priggishness, pugnacity, quarrelsomeness, quibble, quibbling, raking fire, rap, rapid fire, reflection, reproachfulness, ricochet fire, rifle fire, shellfire, shoot-out, shooting, shrewishness, siege artillery, siege engine, slam, stricture, swipe, taking exception, time fire, trench artillery, trichoschistism, vertical fire, zone fireFor further exploring for "flak" in Webster Dictionary Online