Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Marked by disrespectful levity or casualness; pert.
- adjective Archaic Talkative; voluble.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Lively and fluent in speech; speaking freely; talkative; communicative.
- Voluble and confident, without due knowledge or consideration; talkative and forward; impertinent; disrespectfully smart in speech or conduct.
- Of a light and trifling quality; shallow; pert; disrespectful.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun rare A flippant person.
- adjective Of smooth, fluent, and rapid speech; speaking with ease and rapidity; having a voluble tongue; talkative.
- adjective Speaking fluently and confidently, without knowledge or consideration; empty; trifling; inconsiderate; pert; petulant.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective archaic
glib . - adjective
nimble ;limber . - adjective Lacking
respect orseriousness , showinglevity ;pert .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective showing inappropriate levity
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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If she is right, I can only suppose that Miss Pettigrew in using the word flippant meant to support the authority of her subordinates and to snub Lalage for attempting to rebel against time-honoured tradition.
Lalage's Lovers George A. Birmingham 1907
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* Flipe -- One who is "flippant" -- of which word it is the substantive, and a good one too.
The Ned M'Keown Stories Traits And Stories Of The Irish Peasantry, The Works of William Carleton, Volume Three William Carleton 1831
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There are levels to him that rise and fall as his emotions do, yet underneath the flippant is a deep guy with a good heart.
Books That Wow'd Me Janice Hardy 2009
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There are levels to him that rise and fall as his emotions do, yet underneath the flippant is a deep guy with a good heart.
Archive 2009-04-01 Janice Hardy 2009
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They were near enough now to hear the voices of those ashore, gay voices calling flippant greetings.
The House Without a Key Biggers, Earl Derr, 1884-1933 1925
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They were near enough now to hear the voices of those ashore, gay voices calling flippant greetings.
The House Without a Key Biggers, Earl Derr, 1884-1933 1925
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Readers of Taine will recall his flippant Gaelic comment on Tennyson's conventional but cold words of lament.
Modern English Books of Power George Hamlin Fitch 1888
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Vidmar was asked whether he was "too nice" and not "ruthless" enough towards his players, to which he offered what he has since described as a flippant response.
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I believe that here Mephistopheles represents especially that element in human nature which is perhaps the meanest and most disgusting of all, namely flippant and vulgar irreverence, and although we may not agree with John Wesley's definition of man as 'half brute, half devil,' most of us will probably allow that a certain part of our nature (that part which Mephistopheles seems to represent) is capable of an irreverence and a vulgarity of which the devil himself might almost be ashamed.
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I am somewhat familiar with Prof. Schindler's work as an accomplished theologian and his articles are far from 'flippant' but on the contrary very measured and reasonable.
Dr. Janet Smith replies to Dr. Schindler, defends Christopher West 2009
keityo commented on the word flippant
Being flippant flips people off...
August 15, 2012