Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Flippant |
FlippantAdjective1. Showing inappropriate levity. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "flippant" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1615. (references) |
Synonym: FlippantSynonym: light-minded (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Insolence | Flippant, pert, fresh, cavalier, saucy, forward, impertinent, malapert. |
Loquacity | Fluent, voluble, glib, flippant; long tongued, long winded; (diffuse). |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Flippant |
| English words defined with "flippant": airily ♦ flippantly, Flippantness ♦ To take a name in vain. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "flippant": Blushing. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "flippant": flipper. (references) |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | Those flippant Americans. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| "Flippant" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Flippant" is used about 82 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 100% | 82 | 36,594 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
flippant | 11 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "flippant"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | mospërfillës (cavalier, defiant, disdainful, impervious, indifferent, languid, neglectful, negligent, nonchalant, snooty, uninterested, unsympathetic), i shpenguar (footloose, free), i çlirët (abandoned, floppy, loose). (various references) | |
Arabic | قليل الاحترام, وقح (abrasive, barefaced, blatant, bold, brazen, cool, hardy, impertinent, impudent, insolent, nervy, off hand, overbold, pert, presuming, presumptuous, rascal, rude, sassy, saucy, scamp, shameless, smart). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | насмешлив (derisive, derisory, flip, jesting, quizzical, railing), лекомислен (airy, airy fairy, dizzy, empty headed, fast, featherbrained, flip, foolish, frivolous, giddy, harebrained, harum scarum, idle, inconstant, light, light minded, light-headed, scatter-brained, superficial, trivial, unreflecting, unthinking). (various references) | |
Czech | prostořeký. (various references) | |
French | irrévérencieux, désinvolte. (various references) | |
German | frivol (frivolous, irresponsible, risque, suggestive, trifling). (various references) | |
Greek | επιπόλαιοσ (cursory, flighty, frivolous, perfunctory, sciolistic, shallow, skin deep, superficial, thoughtless), ελαφρόσ (buoyant, feathery, frivolous, gentle, light, lightsome, resilient, skin deep, slight, yeasty), αυθάδησ (arrogant, audacious, brash, brazen, forward, impertinent, insolent, jackanapes, pert, presumer, presumptuous, sassy, saucy). (various references) | |
Hebrew | מזלזל (derogatory, heedless, irreverent, pejorative), מ"תל, קל "עת (featherbrain, fickle, flighty, frivolous, light minded, lightheaded). (various references) | |
Hungarian | komolytalan (airy, frivolous, light minded, not serious), nyegle (foppish). (various references) | |
Italian | frivolo (flimsy, frivolous, light minded, nugatory, shallow, trifling), leggero (agile, faint, fickle, light, mild, nimble, shallow, slight, soft, thin, thoughtless, weak), irrispettoso (disrespectful), impertinente (brazen, impertinent, naughty, perky, pert, rude, saucy). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 軽佻 , 上っ調子 (frivolous, shallow). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | うわっちょうし (frivolous, shallow), けいちょう (congratulations and condolences, good omen, listening closely, relative importance, relative weight, sign of happiness). (various references) | |
Manx | floutagh (abusive, aspersive, distainful, lewdly jocular, mock, reproachful, scornful, scurrilous, slanderous, taunting, vituperative). (various references) | |
Norwegian | fleipete, rappmunnet. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | ippantflay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | superficial (aboveground, above-ground, amateurish, flashy, flimsy, frothy, lip-deep, perfunctory, shallow, sketchy, skin-deep, superficial, trivial), irreverente (aweless, disrespectful, flip, impious, irreverent, ribald), desenvolto (jaunty, perky). (various references) | |
Romanian | frivol (Corky, fast, feather-brained, flimsy, frail, frivolous, giddy, shallow, unbecoming), fluşturatic (fickle, flighty, thoughtless, volatile), flecar (babbler, blab, cackler, chatterbox, chatty, driveller, flibbertigibbet, garrulous, magpie, rattler, sieve, talkative, talker, talky, telltale, windbag), superficial (cursory, external, facile, flimsy, gossamer, passing, perfunctory, shallow, skin deep, slight, sublime, superficial, superficially, thin, tinsel, trivial, yeasty), obraznic (audacious, bad, barefaced, bold, boldly, brazenly, cheekily, cheeky, cocky, contemptuous, cool, disobedient, forward, fresh, graceless, impertinent, impudent, insolent, nasty, naughty, nervy, obtrusive, perky, pert, pertly, presumptuous, provocative, rebellious, sauce box, saucy, unruly, untoward, uppish), guraliv (garrulous, long-tongued, mouthy, talkative, voluble). (various references) | |
Russian | непочтительный (disrespectful, irreverent), легкомысленный (empty headed, empty-headed, fast, flighty, frivolous, harum scarum, light, light minded, lightheaded, light-headed, light-minded, rakish, scatter-brained, slap-happy, unreflecting, unthinking), дерзкий (audacious, bold, brash, cheeky, cocky, contumelious, cool, daring, defiant, forward, fresh, impertinent, impudent, insolent, malapert, perky, pert, petulant, presumptuous, reckless, sassy, saucy, tossy). (various references) | |
Scottish | sgulanach. (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | lakomislen (devil may care, featherbrain, featherbrained, frivolous, improvident, inconsiderate, light minded, light-headed, thoughtless). (various references) | |
Spanish | frivolo (frivolous), posible (likely, possible, potential), poco serio (flighty, flip, light hearted, trivial), ligero (agile, airy, double quick, facile, faint, fast, feathery, gentle, hasty, light, light-handed, lightly, lightweight, lithe, mild, quick, quickly, quiet, rakish, remote, springy, swift, thin, twinkling), impertinente (cheeky, impertinent, pert, uncalled for). (various references) | |
Swedish | vanvördig (disrespectful, flip, irreverent), nonchalant (airy, casual, casually, cavalier, jaunty, lackadaisical, off hand, offhand, offhanded). (various references) | |
Turkish | uçarı (abandoned, debauchee, dissolute, fast, flighty, frivolous, giddy, rake, rip), saygısız (brash, discourteous, disregardful, disrespectful, flip, hoggish, impertinent, impious, impudent, inconsiderate, insolent, irreverent, rude, stroppy, undutiful, unfilial, ungalant, unmannerly), küstah (arrogant, assuming, audacious, bold, bold-faced, brash, brassy, cheeky, chesty, cool, flip, fresh, ill mannered, impertinent, impudent, insolent, insulting, malapert, nervy, overbearing, presuming, presumptuous, stroppy, too familiar, unabashed, wise), hoppa (flighty, flyaway, fop, frivolous, gay, giddy, hoity toity, perky, skittish, trifling), arsız (bare faced, barefaced, bold, bold-faced, brassy, calm, cheeky, daft, flip, fresh, hard bitten, Hardy, impudent, malapert, perky, pert, Randy, sassy, shameless, unabashed, unblushing, vigorous). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | нестатечний, нешанобливий (aweless, awless, disrespectful, impious), балакучий (babbling, chatty, conversable, conversational, garrulous, gossipy, leaky, loquacious, mouthy, narrative, newsy, talkative, voluble, well spoken, windy). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | xấc xược (forward, forwardly, pert, pertly, sassy, snottiness), thiếu nghiêm trang, su"ng sã (familiar), khiếm nhã (graceless, indelicate, inurbane, mannerless, rude). (various references) | |
Welsh | tafotrydd (garrulous). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "flippant": flippantly. (additional references) | |
| |
"Flippant" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: flipant, flipent, flipin, flippanct, flippanty, flippen, flippent, Flippetti, flippnt, flippunt, fltppant. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "flippant" (pronounced fli"punt) |
| 4 | -p u n t | occupant, participant, rampant, serpent. |
| 3 | -u n t | agent, aggrandizement, agreement, ailment, alignment, allotment, amazement, ambient, ambivalent, amendment, amusement, ancient, announcement, annulment, antecedent, antidepressant, antigovernment, antioxidant, apartment, apparent, appeasement, applicant, appointment, apportionment, ardent, argent, argument, armament, arraignment, arrangement, arrant, arrogant, absent, absorbent, abstinent, abundant, accelerant, accident, accompaniment, accomplishment, abandonment, abatement, aberrant, abhorrent, abortifacient, accountant, accouterment, achievement, acknowledgement, acknowledgment, adamant, adherent, adjacent, adjournment, adjustment, adjutant, adolescent, adornment, advancement, advertisement, advisement, afferent, affiant, affluent, ascendant, aspirant, assailant, assessment, assignment, assistant, assortment, astonishment, astringent, atonement, attachment, attainment, attendant, banishment, basement, battlement, belligerent, bemusement, beneficent, benevolent, bereavement, betterment, bewilderment, blandishment, blatant, bombardment, brilliant, buoyant, celebrant, claimant, clairvoyant, Clement, client, coefficient, cogent, cognizant, coherent, coincident, combatant, commandment, commencement, commitment, compartment, competent, complacent, complainant, complaisant, complement, compliant, component, comportment, concealment, concomitant, concurrent, condiment, confident, confinement, confluent, consequent, consignment, consistent, consonant, constant, constituent, consultant, containment, contaminant, contentment, contestant, continent, contingent, convalescent, convenient, convent, convergent, conversant, coolant, copayment, corespondent, cormorant, correspondent, Courant, covenant, Crescent, crosscurrent, current, curtailment, ignorant, immanent, immigrant, imminent, impairment, impatient, impeachment, impediment, impertinent, implement, important, impotent, impoundment, impoverishment, impressment, imprisonment, improvement, imprudent, inadvertent, incandescent, debarment, debasement, decadent, decedent, decent, declarant, decongestant, defendant, deferment, defiant, deficient, defoliant, delinquent, deodorant, department, dependent, deployment, deportment, depressant, derailment, descendant, descendent, despondent, detachment, detergent, determent, determinant, deterrent, detriment, development, deviant, different, diligent, diminishment, disagreement, disappointment, disarmament, disbarment, disbursement, discernment, discordant, discouragement, disenchantment, disenfranchisement, disengagement, disestablishment, disgruntlement, disillusionment, disinfectant, disinvestment, dismantlement, dismemberment, disobedient, dispersant, displacement, dissident, dissonant, distant, divalent, divergent, divestment, docent, dominant, dormant, easement, ebullient, efferent, effervescent, efficient, effluent, elegant, element, elephant, eloquent, embankment, embarrassment, embayment, embellishment, embezzlement, embodiment, emergent, emigrant, eminent, emplacement, employment, empowerment, enactment, encampment, enchantment, encirclement, encouragement, encroachment, endangerment, endearment, endorsement, endowment, enforcement, engagement, enhancement, enjoyment, enlargement, enlightenment, enlistment, enrichment, enrollment, enslavement, entanglement, entertainment, enticement, entitlement, entombment, entrant, entrapment, entrenchment, environment, equipment, equivalent, errant, escapement, escarpment, esculent, establishment, estrangement, evanescent, evident, excellent, excitement, excrement, exigent, existent, exorbitant, expectant, expectorant, expedient, experiment, exponent, extant, extinguishment, extravagant, exuberant, exultant, Fabricant, fervent, figment, filament, flagrant, flamboyant, flatulent, fluent, fluorescent, formant, fragment, fragrant, fraudulent, frequent, fulfillment, gallant, garment, garnishment, giant, government, grandiloquent, grandparent, harassment, hesitant, hydrant, incessant, incident, incipient, incitement, inclement, incoherent, incompetent, inconsistent, incontinent, inconvenient, increment, incumbent, indecent, independent, indictment, indifferent, indigent, indignant, indolent, inducement, indulgent, inefficient, infant, informant, infotainment, infrequent, infringement, ingredient, inhabitant, inhalant, inherent, innocent, inpatient, insignificant, insistent, insolent, insolvent, installment, instant, instrument, insufficient, insurgent, integument, intelligent, intercurrent, interdependent, intermittent, internment, intersegment, intolerant, intransigent, invariant, investment, involvement, iridescent, irrelevant, irreverent, irritant, itinerant, jubilant, judgement, judgment, latent, leant, lenient, lieutenant, ligament, litigant, lubricant, lucent, luminescent, luxuriant, magnificent, malevolent, malignant, maltreatment, management, measurement, merchant, micromanagement, migrant, militant, miscreant, misgovernment, misjudgment, mismanagement, misstatement, mistreatment, moment, monovalent, monument, mordant, movement, mutant, nascent, negligent, noncombatant, nonexistent, nongovernment, nonmanagement, nonpayment, nonresident, nonviolent, nourishment, nutrient, obedient, observant, obsolescent, odorant, ointment, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, operant, opponent, opulent, ornament, orpiment, outpatient, outplacement, overconfident, overpayment, overstatement, oxidant, pageant, parchment, parent, parliament, patent, patient, pavement, payment, peasant, penchant, pendant, penitent, pennant, percipient, permanent, persistent, pertinent, petulant, pheasant, pigment, piquant, placement, pleasant, pliant, poignant, pollutant, postponement, postretirement, potent, preadolescent, precedent, predicament, predominant, preeminent, pregnant, prejudgment, prepayment, prescient, present, presentment, prevalent, procurement, proficient, prominent, pronouncement, propellant, proponent, protestant, provident, prudent, prurient, pungent, punishment, pursuant, puzzlement, quadrant, quiescent, quotient, radiant, readjustment, reagent, realignment, reappointment, reapportionment, rearmament, rearrangement, reassessment, reassignment, recalcitrant, recent, recipient, recombinant, recruitment, recurrent, redeployment, redevelopment, redundant, reemployment, reenactment, refinement, refreshment, refrigerant, refurbishment, Regent, regiment, registrant, reimbursement, reinforcement, reinstatement, reinvestment, relevant, reliant, reluctant, reminiscent, remnant, repayment, repellent, repentant, replacement, replenishment, repugnant, requirement, resentment, resettlement, resident, resilient, resistant, resonant, resplendent, respondent, restatement, resultant, resurgent, retardant, reticent, retirement, retrenchment, reverent, rodent, rudiment, ruminant, sacrament, salient, seafront, sealant, sediment, segment, semipermanent, sentiment, Sequent, sergeant, servant, settlement, shipment, significant, silent, solvent, somnolent, stagnant, statement, stimulant, strident, stringent, student, subcontinent, subsequent, subservient, succulent, sufficient, supergiant, superintendent, supplement, supplicant, suppressant, surfactant, talent, tangent, temperament, tenant, tenement, testament, tetravalent, tolerant, torrent, tournament, transcendent, transient, translucent, transparent, treatment, trenchant, trident, triumphant, truant, truculent, tumescent, turbulent, tyrant, undercurrent, underdevelopment, underemployment, undergarment, underpayment, understatement, unemployment, unimportant, unpleasant, unrepentant, urgent, vacant, vagrant, valiant, variant, vehement, verdant, vibrant, vigilant, violent, virulent, warrant, wonderment. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-f-i-l-n-p-p-t" | |
-2 letters: plaint, pliant. | |
-3 letters: faint, final, flint, inapt, lapin, paint, palpi, patin, pilaf, pinta, pipal, plain, plait, plant. | |
-4 letters: alif, alit, anil, anti, fail, fain, fiat, fila, flan, flap, flat, flip, flit, lain, lati, lift, lint, lipa, naif, nail, nipa, pail, pain, palp, pant, pial, pian, pina, pint, pita, plan, plat, tail, tain, tali. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-f-i-l-n-p-p-t" | |
+2 letters: flippantly. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Images: Photo Album | 5. Usage Frequency 6. Expressions: Internet 7. Translations: Modern 8. Derivations | 9. Rhymes 10. Anagrams 11. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
