flaky
Americanadjective
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of or like flakes.
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lying or cleaving off in flakes or layers.
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Slang. eccentric; wacky; dizzy.
a flaky math professor.
adjective
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like or made of flakes
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tending to peel off or break easily into flakes
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Also: flakey. slang eccentric; crazy
Other Word Forms
- flakily adverb
- flakiness noun
- nonflakily adverb
- nonflakilyness noun
- nonflaky adjective
- unflaky adjective
Etymology
Origin of flaky
First recorded in 1570–80; 1965–70 flaky for def. 3; flake 1 + -y 1; sense of flaky def. 3 probably flake 4 + -y 1, though influenced by flake 1
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.
The French brasserie with paper-thin radishes, good cultured butter and a pinch of flaky salt.
From Salon
Or maybe the splurge is reserved for the morning after: flaky pastries from the good bakery, eaten slowly with nice coffee when there’s nowhere in particular you need to be.
From Salon
Later, the counter began to crowd with flaky croissants, sticky pastry, brioches with amber sheen.
From Salon
Bat ignored the lava question, but about the paste he said, “Glue works better than paste. The paste gets all weird and flaky when it dries.”
From Literature
It was flaky and bursting with what appeared to be nuts.
From Literature
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
