flapper
Americannoun
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flappers
plural
noun
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a person or thing that flaps
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(in the 1920s) a young woman, esp one flaunting her unconventional dress and behaviour
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of flapper
Explanation
A flapper was a certain type of woman in the United States in the 1920's. Flappers were known for their unconventional style and behavior. In the United States in the 1920s, a certain kind of woman emerged: the flapper. Flappers had their own hairstyles and ways of dressing, especially bobbed hair and short skirts. They liked to listen to jazz and generally embraced freedom from social conventions. None of this was considered "ladylike" at the time: it was new and shocking. Flappers were a sign of changing times and more freedom for women to express themselves. There's no doubt the flappers had a lot of style.
Vocabulary lists containing flapper
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda
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American History - Middle School
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American History - High School
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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:
Fans dressed in approximations of her floaty ballgowns and 1920s flapper dresses, hollering lyrics like mantras.
From BBC ● May 2, 2026
Dagwood Bumstead was the scion of a rich family that disowned him when he married Blondie, a flapper — forcing him to take an office job under the irascible J.C.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 30, 2025
Now, suddenly, he was handed a microphone and enlisted as a simultaneous translator for Karel Lamač’s uproarious Jazz Age comedy about a proper Viennese girl who goes wild as a flapper.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 17, 2025
Underneath, dresses of scalloped sequins and draped fringe recall flapper looks with contemporary discipline.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 24, 2024
“Now he’s got his eye on us. Now we got to be careful and not make no slips. You keep your big flapper shut after this.”
From "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck
Next steps from the robotics perspective will include working with material scientists to equip the flappers with muscle-like materials.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 4, 2023
In what ways were flappers a reaction to World War I?
From Textbooks ● Dec. 14, 2022
The evening started with cocktails and moved to a tent on the museum’s back lawn; many patrons were dressed as flappers to fit the Roaring Twenties theme.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 2, 2021
Sibling chorus girls go to Paris and live like their mother and aunt who were 1920s flappers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 17, 2020
At one point, the dancers appeared dressed as flappers, twirling wildly to jazzy music.
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
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.
