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 whole crispy branzino is also worth ordering—it was perfectly flaky.
From Salon • Mar. 31, 2026
Dinner at Kabawa in New York’s East Village begins with “buss-up shut,” a flaky Trinidadian flatbread derived from Indian paratha roti.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 30, 2026
I pressed the dough into a pie tin, sprinkled the top with turbinado sugar and flaky sea salt, and baked it until the edges set and the center stayed soft and blondie-like.
From Salon • Jan. 11, 2026
For investors, high-quality companies bring to mind financial resilience—just the thing today to offset concerns over runaway artificial-intelligence spending, or a recent rash of flaky business models, like companies that raise cash to hoard crypto.
From Barron's • Dec. 26, 2025
Not nasty big-city crime, but flaky Florida-style crime.
From "Hoot" by Carl Hiaasen
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.
