flibbertigibbet

[ flib-er-tee-jib-it ]

noun

1. a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.
2. Archaic. a gossip.

flibbertigibbet

/ ˈflɪbətɪˌdʒɪbɪt /

noun

1. an irresponsible, silly, or gossipy person

Word History and Origins

Origin of flibbertigibbet¹

1425–75; late Middle English flepergebet, flipergebet; reduplicative compound of obscure origin

Word History and Origins

Origin of flibbertigibbet¹

C15: of uncertain origin

Example Sentences

As Orlando, Duke of Oxford and the spy agency’s founder, Fiennes might read more cuddly than studly, but he lends a surprising gravitas to this flibbertigibbet feature.

From New York Times

“My sister’s been painted as some flibbertigibbet socialite floating from party to party and leading a gilded life,” he said.

From Washington Post

Invariably described as a Renaissance man, Mr. Miller preferred terms like “flibbertigibbet,” once telling People magazine, “Things are always best when there has been a careless abandon about them.”

From Washington Post

That left Jonathan with lifelong feelings of guilt, which led him on several occasions to announce that he was abandoning what he once called “this footling flibbertigibbet world of theater.”

From Seattle Times

Magnet ends his book with a gratuitous, even racist assault on Barack Obama, in which the former president’s mother is trashed as a “Kumbaya mother” and a “flibbertigibbet white mother.”

From New York Times