What it means
A clapback is a sharp, witty reply you fire back when someone comes for you first. It’s not a tantrum and it’s not just any comeback. A proper clapback lands clean, sounds confident, and leaves the other person standing there with their mouth doing buffering.
Usage examples
"A troll mocked her cooking and her clapback had the whole comment section cheering."
"He tried to embarrass me in the meeting, so I had a clapback ready."
"She called him lazy on Twitter, and his clapback was so neat nobody even bothered defending her."
"Don’t start poking at people all day then act shocked when a clapback lands on your forehead."
Where it comes from
Clapback is attested in Black American English and took off hard in US pop culture, hip-hop media, and online talk in the 2000s and 2010s. The sense is a verbal hit sent straight back at somebody, not a random insult, but a pointed return shot after being criticised or disrespected.
Editors of this term
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