flinty
Americanadjective
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composed of, containing, or resembling flint, especially in hardness.
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unyielding; unmerciful; obdurate.
a flinty heart.
adjective
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of, relating to, or resembling flint
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hard or cruel; obdurate; unyielding
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of flinty
Explanation
Something that's made of or contains flint, or hard silica rock, is flinty. Flinty soil is rough and rocky, and not the best for planting a garden. Flinty earth is studded with jagged flakes of flint, and the adjective is often used in a figurative way to capture an equally rough and stony mood or personality. Your flinty uncle, for example, might be gruff and unsmiling. Since the 16th century flinty has been used this way, to mean "hard-hearted" or "tough as flint." The "full of flint" meaning is slightly newer.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
His flinty 2022 debut “A Love Song” was drenched in melancholy, casting Dale Dickey and Wes Studi as aging childhood friends reunited, a tentative romance faintly sparking.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 21, 2025
But there is still a combination of flinty determination and composure under pressure that has restricted England to just eight victories in 46 meetings across more than a century.
From BBC ● Nov. 15, 2025
"It's a big old cheese -- there's a lot going on. The texture is beautiful: it's flinty as you break it apart; the crystalline in there are so delicate," he said.
From Barron's ● Nov. 13, 2025
Sweat, who is 70, has a golfer’s tan, flinty eyes, and a shirt unbuttoned just a little too far.
From Slate ● Nov. 6, 2025
This riddling figure with flinty eyes isn’t the Locke who stood on the rooftop of his estate and spoke so gently to me or who chased me, laughing, through its halls.
From "The Cruel Prince" by Holly Black
But Carney directly invoked the darker, flintier aspects of North American history when he was asked on Aug. 22 whether his country was now at war.
From Salon ● Aug. 31, 2026
Colman and Weisz are Lanthimos veterans, and Weisz is even flintier here than she was in “The Lobster.”
From The New Yorker ● Nov. 16, 2018
Dave Murphy, however, remained flintier in the aftermath: never able to fully unload himself of three years’ worth of layered fury.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 13, 2015
I mention this only because in recent months, in need of flintier forms of solace, I’ve increasingly and somewhat guiltily been bookmarking on my laptop the poems of Mark Ford.
From New York Times ● Jul. 29, 2014
The longma beat its wings, and Anja’s voice grew flintier.
From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell
It would take the flintiest heart not to feel for Jofra Archer.
From BBC ● May 16, 2023
The Granite State features some of the country's best cross-country skiing trails and resorts, and cross-country skiing is generally regarded as the flintiest of winter sports.
From Slate ● Oct. 8, 2013
Graeme’s appeal touched even the flintiest hearts among the conservative commentariat.
From Salon ● Jun. 17, 2012
But Pakula and Mulligan held out for Peck, the screen's flintiest rock of movie rectitude.
From Time Magazine Archive
Above are walnuts and chestnuts, and the flintiest summits serve for pasturage.
From Spanish Highways and Byways by Katharine Lee Bates
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