flippant
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
1595, from Northern English dialectal flippand (“prattling, babbling, glib”), present participle of flip (“to babble”), of North Germanic origin. Cognate with Icelandic fleipa (“to babble, prattle”), Swedish dialectal flepa (“to talk nonsense”). Alteration of -and suffix (a variant of the participial -ing) to -ant probably due to influence from words in -ant.
Pronunciation[edit]
Adjective[edit]
flippant (comparative more flippant, superlative most flippant)
- (archaic) glib; speaking with ease and rapidity
- November 5, 1673, Isaac Barrow, sermon on the Gunpowder Treason
- It becometh good men, in such cases, to be pleasantly flippant and free in their speech.
- November 5, 1673, Isaac Barrow, sermon on the Gunpowder Treason
- (chiefly dialectal) nimble; limber.
- Showing disrespect through a casual attitude, levity, and a lack of due seriousness; pert.
- 1790, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France
- 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.
- 1790, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France
Synonyms[edit]
- See also Thesaurus:cheeky
Antonyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
lacking respect
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See also[edit]
Further reading[edit]
- flippant in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- flippant in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911.
French[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Adjective[edit]
flippant (feminine singular flippante, masculine plural flippants, feminine plural flippantes)
Verb[edit]
flippant
Further reading[edit]
- “flippant” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
Categories:
- English terms derived from North Germanic languages
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- English terms with archaic senses
- English dialectal terms
- English words suffixed with -ant
- French 2-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French lemmas
- French adjectives
- European French
- French informal terms
- French non-lemma forms
- French present participles