flippant
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)
- Showing disrespect through a casual attitude, levity, and a lack of due seriousness; pert.
- 1790 November, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, and on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to that Event. […], London: […] J[ames] Dodsley, […], →OCLC:
- 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, 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.
- (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.
Synonyms edit
- See also Thesaurus:cheeky
Antonyms edit
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
lacking respect
See also edit
Further reading edit
- “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.
French edit
Pronunciation edit
Adjective edit
flippant (feminine flippante, masculine plural flippants, feminine plural flippantes)
Participle edit
flippant
Further reading edit
- “flippant”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.