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Synonyms

flippant

American  
[flip-uhnt] / ˈflɪp ənt /

adjective

  1. frivolously disrespectful, shallow, or lacking in seriousness; characterized by levity.

    The audience was shocked by his flippant remarks about patriotism.
    Synonyms:
    impudent, impertinent, saucy

  2. Chiefly Dialect. nimble, limber, or pliant.

  3. Archaic. glib; voluble.

flippant British  
/ ˈflɪpənt /

adjective

  1. marked by inappropriate levity; frivolous or offhand

  2. impertinent; saucy

  3. obsolete talkative or nimble

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • flippancy noun
  • flippantly adverb
  • flippantness noun
  • unflippant adjective
  • unflippantly adverb

Etymology

Origin of flippant

1595–1605; apparently flip 1 + -ant

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.

Some of the more condescending reviews of “Marie Antoinette” made a facile equation between you and your protagonist, as if you were the flippant queen dousing herself in luxury.

From Salon

I was grateful for his smile, but I wondered how he could be so flippant.

From Literature

Platitudes, by their nature, can come off as flippant.

From MarketWatch

“It’s okay!” she said with a flippant wave of her hand, smiling that perfectly parallel smile.

From Literature

“I try to be very respectful of human remains, and not be flippant about it,” he told the Tulsa World.

From The Wall Street Journal

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.