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View synonyms for flippant

flippant

[ flip-uhnt ]

adjective

  1. frivolously disrespectful, shallow, or lacking in seriousness; characterized by levity:

    The audience was shocked by his flippant remarks about patriotism.

    Synonyms: impudent, impertinent, saucy

  2. Chiefly Dialect. nimble, limber, or pliant.
  3. Archaic. glib; voluble.


flippant

/ ˈflɪpənt /

adjective

  1. marked by inappropriate levity; frivolous or offhand
  2. impertinent; saucy
  3. obsolete.
    talkative or nimble


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Derived Forms

  • ˈflippantly, adverb
  • ˈflippancy, noun

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Other Words From

  • flippan·cy flippant·ness noun
  • flippant·ly adverb
  • un·flippant adjective
  • un·flippant·ly adverb

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Word History and Origins

Origin of flippant1

1595–1605; apparently flip 1 + -ant

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Word History and Origins

Origin of flippant1

C17: perhaps from flip

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Example Sentences

The original films, meanwhile, had a bit more of a flippant edge to them, and they never really tried to be heartwarming in the way that Afterlife is.

From Time

They were flippant quotes that effectively handed their opponents an issue to beat into the ground.

This has manifested in sometimes flippant, sometimes cruel reactions to the high rates of infection and death among unvaccinated Americans.

To say it’s wrong would be as flippant as the people spraining their thumbs with their flurry of tweets.

At the risk of sounding unduly flippant, I want to put in a good word for books that contribute to what Samuel Johnson called “the gaiety of nations” and “the public stock of harmless pleasure.”

Rangel was frequently flippant on the campaign trail - once pulling out an iPad to answer a question during a televised debate.

When the editor of Outside magazine, Alex Heard, tweeted that I had made an ass of myself, my response was arrogant and flippant.

Meanwhile, the real Angela Merkel was predictably less flippant than her phony Twitter doppelgänger.

Ali Gharib said after the fact that he realized the comments were flippant and irresponsible.

He seems implacably bespectacled—admonitory even in his flippant asides.

Hadria was incorrigibly flippant about the banishment of important local subjects.

Lucian attaches an intelligible meaning to these flippant expletives, and represents Socrates as justifying their use.

He had fired up on one occasion when Professor Theobald said something flippant about Mrs. Temperley.

Her mien was quite serious, but her tone was sprightly—even flippant.

That flippant remark broke the tension and the driver climbed gingerly out and viewed the bare hub.

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flip one's lidflipper