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Webster 1913 Edition


Flippant

Flip′pant

,
Adj.
[Prov. E.
flip
to move nimbly; cf. W.
llipa
soft, limber, pliant, or Icel.
fleipa
to babble, prattle. Cf.
Flip
,
Fillip
,
Flap
,
Flipper
.]
1.
Of smooth, fluent, and rapid speech; speaking with ease and rapidity; having a voluble tongue; talkative.
It becometh good men, in such cases, to be
flippant
and free in their speech.
Barrow.
2.
Speaking fluently and confidently, without knowledge or consideration; empty; trifling; inconsiderate; pert; petulant.
Flippant epilogues.”
Thomson.
To put
flippant
scorn to the blush.
I. Taylor.
A sort of
flippant
, vain discourse.
Burke.

Flip′pant

,
Noun.
A flippant person.
[R.]
Tennyson.

Webster 1828 Edition


Flippant

FLIP'PANT

,
Adj.
[L. labor, to slide or slip, and to liber, free.]
1.
Of smoother, fluent and rapid speech; speaking with ease and rapidity; having a voluble tongue; talkative.
2.
Pert; petulant; waggish.
Away with flippant epilogues.

Definition 2024


flippant

flippant

English

Adjective

flippant (comparative more flippant, superlative most flippant)

  1. (archaic) glib; speaking with ease and rapidity
    • Barrow
      It becometh good men, in such cases, to be flippant and free in their speech.
  2. (chiefly dialectal) nimble; limber.
  3. Showing disrespect through a casual attitude, levity, and a lack of due seriousness; pert.
    • Burke
      a sort of flippant, vain discourse
    • 1998, Sylvia Brownrigg, The Metaphysical Touch
      The conversations had grown more adult over the years—she was less flippant, at least.
    • 2000, Anthony Howard and Jason Cowley, Decline and Fall, New Statesman, March 13, 2000
      In the mid-1950s we both wrote for the same weekly, where her contributions were a good deal more serious and less flippant than mine.
    • 2004, Allen Carr, The Easy Way to Stop Smoking, page 147
      Our society treats smoking flippantly as a slightly distasteful habit that can injure your health. It is not. It is drug addiction.

Synonyms

  • See also Wikisaurus:cheeky

Antonyms

Derived terms

Translations

See also

External links

  • flippant in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
  • flippant in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

French

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /fli.pɑ̃/

Adjective

flippant m (feminine singular flippante, masculine plural flippants, feminine plural flippantes)

  1. (Europe, informal) Surprising.
  2. (Europe, informal) Worrying; scary.

Verb

flippant

  1. present participle of flipper