whack-a-mole: meaning & examples

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Language: English

Meanings:

  • 1.

    General Englishneutral
    • An arcade game in which players hit mechanical figures that repeatedly pop up from holes.

    Examples

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    • We spent the afternoon playing whack-a-mole at the arcade; it was surprisingly addictive.

      Pasamos la tarde jugando a whack-a-mole en el arcade; fue sorprendentemente adictivo.

    • The children lined up eagerly to take turns at the whack-a-mole machine during the carnival.

      Los niños hicieron fila con entusiasmo para turnarse en la máquina de whack-a-mole durante la feria.

    • I have never been very good at whack-a-mole, but my nephew beats me every time.

      Nunca he sido muy bueno en whack-a-mole, pero mi sobrino me gana siempre.

    • When the whack-a-mole figures pop up, you have to be quick to hit them before they disappear.

      Cuando las figuras de whack-a-mole salen, debes ser rápido para golpearlas antes de que desaparezcan.

  • 2.

    General EnglishNorth AmericaUnited Kingdominformal
    • A situation in which problems or unwanted events repeatedly reappear after being temporarily dealt with, giving the impression of endless, repetitive effort.
    • Any task or process that involves repeatedly addressing short‑term symptoms rather than solving an underlying cause.

    Examples

    Beta

    • Dealing with customer complaints feels like playing whack-a-mole; as soon as one issue is fixed, another pops up.

      Atender quejas de clientes se siente como jugar whack-a-mole; tan pronto arreglas un problema, surge otro.

    • If we don’t address the root cause, managing this bug will be a never-ending game of whack-a-mole.

      Si no abordamos la causa raíz, gestionar este error será un juego interminable de whack-a-mole.

    • The IT department is stuck in a whack-a-mole situation, patching security holes as hackers find new ones.

      El departamento de TI está atrapado en una situación de whack-a-mole, parcheando agujeros de seguridad mientras los hackers encuentran otros nuevos.

  • 3.

    General Englishinformalpejorative
    • A person who is erratic, disruptive, or repeatedly appears in problematic ways; used derogatorily to describe someone perceived as mentally unstable or persistently troublesome.

    Examples

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    • Honestly, dealing with Tom is like whack-a-mole; he disappears for weeks and then reappears causing trouble again.

      Honestamente, tratar con Tom es como whack-a-mole; desaparece por semanas y luego reaparece causando problemas.

    • The manager described the disruptive employee as a whack-a-mole who keeps popping up with new issues.

      El gerente describió al empleado problemático como un whack-a-mole que sigue apareciendo con nuevos problemas.

    • Whenever the team thinks they’ve handled the situation, that whack-a-mole of a coworker creates chaos again.

      Cada vez que el equipo cree haber solucionado la situación, ese compañero problemático vuelve a crear caos.

Examples:

  • EN: I'm here because Sarah Connor is a deluded, dangerous whack-a-mole who killed a man because she believes he'll invent a computer system that declares war on the world.
    ES: Estoy aquí porque Sarah Connor es una blanda, peligrosa, de tipo Whack-A-Mole que mató a un hombre porque creía que en el futuro, inventaría un sistema computarizado que declarará la guerra al mundo.
  • EN: She was probably just a nut job, some kind of whack-a-mole.
    ES: Seguramente era una loca.
  • EN: - Oh, whack-a-mole.
    ES: -Oh, el caza-topos(NdT:
  • EN: John-John played whack-a-mole with a senior citizen.
    ES: John-John hizo guacamole con un jubilado.
  • EN: We're playing whack-a-mole.
    ES: Esto es un no parar.
  • EN: You're like a human whack-a-mole.
    ES: Eres como un Aplasta-Al-Topo humano.
  • EN: How's whack-a-mole?
    ES: ¿Encontraste al espía?
  • EN: Well, we liken early sobriety to a whack-a-mole game.
    ES: Comparamos un desenganche prematuro con el juego de golpear los topos.
  • EN: It's just like playing whack-a-mole.
    ES: Es igual que jugar al Golpea al Topo.
  • EN: I want to play whack-a-mole.
    ES: - ¿Por favor?
  • EN: We've been playing whack-a-mole with these guys since Ward first picked me out of my van.
    ES: Hemos estado luchando contra estos tipos desde que Ward me sacó de mi furgoneta.
  • EN: Trying to get an answer out of you about your past is like playing whack-a-mole.
    ES: Tratar de obtener una respuesta de ti acerca de tu pasado es como jugar a golpear al topo.
  • EN: Let me at that whack-a-mole.
    ES: Dejame en ese whack-a-mole.
  • EN: - It's a big game of whack-a-mole.
    ES: - Todo un juego de...
  • EN: They can only pop up in the areas we choose, like that old earth game of whack-a-mole.
    ES: Que sólo puedan aparecer en las áreas que elegimos, como el juego de la vieja tierra de golpe a ciegas.

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Sourced from Wiktionary

Source: Wiktionary

whack-a-mole: Meaning, Examples & Usage (English) | Idiomator