flit
Americanverb (used without object)
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to move lightly and swiftly; fly, dart, or skim along.
bees flitting from flower to flower.
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to flutter, as a bird.
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to pass quickly, as time.
hours flitting by.
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Chiefly Scot. and North England.
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to depart or die.
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to change one's residence.
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verb (used with object)
noun
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a light, swift movement; flutter.
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Scot. and North England. a change of residence; instance of moving to a new address.
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Slang: Extremely Disparaging and Offensive. a contemptuous term used to refer to a gay man.
verb
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to move along rapidly and lightly; skim or dart
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to fly rapidly and lightly; flutter
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to pass quickly; fleet
a memory flitted into his mind
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dialect to move house
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informal to depart hurriedly and stealthily in order to avoid obligations
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an informal word for elope
noun
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the act or an instance of flitting
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slang a male homosexual
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informal a hurried and stealthy departure in order to avoid obligations (esp in the phrase do a flit )
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See moonlight flit
Related Words
See fly 2.
Other Word Forms
- flitter noun
- flittingly adverb
Etymology
Origin of flit
First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English flitten, from Old Norse flytja “to carry, convey,” Swedish flytta; fleet 2
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.
Conversations are built on disagreement; distractable brains flit from one thought to a barely related other.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 12, 2026
Silverblatt spent his entire career at S&P, a rarity among restless Wall Street hustlers who often flit between companies to climb the corporate ladder.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 3, 2026
Today, bicycles and bright yellow three-wheeled "keke" taxis flit along paved streets or new highway flyovers direct traffic over packed roundabouts.
From Barron's • Nov. 12, 2025
Hargitay doesn’t flit between talking heads at warp speed to feed the viewer information, or overly rely on archival footage and old photos to make the film feel like a glorified Wikipedia deep dive.
From Salon • Jun. 27, 2025
I stand there in front of that water, staring out at them—watching them flit and fly and zoom, and I can’t help but smile.
From "King and the Dragonflies" by Kacen Callender
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.
