flippant

English

Etymology

1595, from Northern English dialectal flippand (“prattling, babbling, glib”), present participle of flip (“to babble”), of (deprecated template usage) [etyl]  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

• IPA^(key): /ˈflɪ.pənt/

Adjective

flippant (comparative more flippant, superlative most flippant)

1. (archaic) glib; speaking with ease and rapidity
   • (Can we date this quote by Barrow and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     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.
   • (Can we date this quote by Burke and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     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 Thesaurus:cheeky

Antonyms

• serious

Derived terms

• flippancy

Translations

lacking respect

• Bulgarian: непочтителен (bg) (nepočtitelen)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 輕率／轻率 (zh) (qīngshuài), 轻率 (zh) (qīngshuài), 無禮／无礼 (zh) (wúlǐ), 无礼 (zh) (wúlǐ)

• Dutch: oneerbiedig (nl), spottend (nl)
• Finnish: epäkunnioittava (lacking respect), epäasiallinen (lacking seriousness)
• French: désinvolte (fr), cavalier (fr)
• German: schnodderig (de), vorlaut (de), frech (de), oberflächlich (de), leichtfertig (de)
• Icelandic: virðingarlaus m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: impertinente (it), disinvolto (it), faceto (it), frivolo (it), irriverente (it), sapientone m, fanfarone (it) m, spaccone (it) m, gradasso (it) m
• Japanese: ぶしつけな (bushitsuke-na), 生意気な (ja) (なまいきな, namaiki-na)
• Maori: ngahangaha
• Norwegian: eplekjekk, flåset, flåsete
• Portuguese: insolente (pt), impertinente (pt)
• Russian: де́рзкий (ru) (dérzkij), на́глый (ru) (náglyj), наха́льный (ru) (naxálʹnyj), неуважительный (ru) (neuvažitelʹnyj)
• Spanish: fresco (es), insolente (es)

See also

• irreverent
• pert
• facetious
• frivolous

Further reading

• “flippant”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “flippant”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fli.pɑ̃/

Adjective

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

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

Verb

flippant

1. present participle of flipper

Further reading

• “flippant”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.