flighty
Americanadjective
-
given to flights of fancy; capricious; frivolous.
- Synonyms:
- irresponsible, undependable, mercurial
-
slightly delirious; light-headed; mildly crazy.
-
irresponsible.
He said I was too flighty to be a good supervisor.
-
Archaic. swift or fleet.
adjective
-
frivolous and irresponsible; capricious; volatile
-
mentally erratic, unstable, or wandering
-
flirtatious; coquettish
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of flighty
Explanation
If you're flighty, you're flaky and a little bit thoughtless. Flighty people change their minds and plans at the drop of a hat. Flighty people are unreliable and irresponsible — they often forget appointments, show up late, and change their minds about important things at the last minute. If you need help with something important, don't count on a flighty person for help. The original meaning of flighty, in the 1500's, was "swift" or "speedy." By the late 1700's, it had come to mean "fickle or frivolous," and was often used to describe skittish horses.
Vocabulary lists containing flighty
To All the Boys I've Loved Before
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"The Tragedy of Macbeth," Vocabulary from Act 4
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A Streetcar Named Desire
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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.
In her run-down Victorian house, she produces a literary journal, Vista, and provides lodging to four tenants: Robbie, a struggling writer; Georgina, a flighty debutante; Mina, an ambitious cinema usherette; and Saul, a wartime refugee.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 15, 2026
Undertaking a new challenge every few years can show employers you’re ambitious, but not flighty.
From MarketWatch • Dec. 22, 2025
One insider who has been part of conversations about the chances of changing the leader says, "it's not flighty people, not just newbies without a clue, they're not idiots".
From BBC • Sep. 27, 2025
As Rickey, a flighty self-starter who just can’t seem to get started, Angarano is wildly funny and also painfully familiar.
From Salon • Apr. 11, 2025
In the silence all the flighty spirits of the morning ended between us.
From "A Separate Peace" by John Knowles
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.
