flippancy

English

Alternative forms

• flippance

Etymology

From flippant + -cy.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈflɪ.pən.si/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈflɪ.pɛn.si/, /ˈflɪ.pɛnt.si/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

flippancy (countable and uncountable, plural flippancies)

1. A disrespectful levity or pertness especially in respect to grave or sacred matters.
   • 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:

     "It was the same direction from which the American had come. Something terrible lay that way. It was my business to find out what it was." "What did you do?" My flippancy was all gone.

Related terms

• flippant

Translations

disrespectful levity or pertness — see also loquacity,‎ lightheartedness

• Bulgarian: непочтителност (bg) f (nepočtitelnost)
• Dutch: lichtzinnigheid (nl) f,
• German: Leichfertigkeit f, fehlende Ernsthaftigkeit f, mangelnder Ernst m
• Irish: braise f, braschaint f, deiliús m, fídireacht f, soibealtacht f
• Portuguese: leviandade (pt) f
• Spanish: falta de seriedad f