flippant

English

Etymology

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

• (US, UK) IPA^(key): /ˈflɪ.pənt/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

Adjective

flippant (comparative more flippant, superlative most flippant)

1. 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 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.

2. (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.

3. (chiefly dialectal) nimble; limber.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:cheeky

Antonyms

• serious

Derived terms

• flippancy

Translations

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.

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fli.pɑ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

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

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

Participle

flippant

1. present participle of flipper

Further reading

• “flippant”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.