flimsy
/ˈflɪmzi/ adjective, noun, verb
Forms flimsier flimsiest flimsies flimsying flimsied
- adjective Likely to bend or break under pressure; easily damaged; frail, unsubstantial. “He expected the flimsy structure to collapse at any moment.”
- adjective Of clothing: very light and thin.
- adjective Of an argument, explanation, etc.: ill-founded, unconvincing, weak; also, unimportant; paltry, trivial. “a flimsy excuse”
- adjective Of a person: lacking depth of character or understanding; frivolous, superficial.
- adjective (obsolete) Of a person, their physical makeup, or their health: delicate, frail.
- noun A thing which is ill-founded, unconvincing, or weak.
- noun (also attributive, uncountable) Thin typing paper used together with carbon paper in a typewriter to make multiple copies of a document; (countable) a sheet of such paper.
- noun (naval slang, countable) A service certificate.
- noun (slang, countable) A banknote; (uncountable) paper money.
- noun (newspapers, uncountable) The text to be set into pages of magazines, newspapers, etc.; copy.
- noun (UK, military slang) A hexahedral metal container with a capacity of four imperial gallons (about 18 litres) used by the British Army during World War II to hold fuel.
- verb To make (something) likely to be easily damaged.
- verb (dated or historical) To type or write (text) on a flimsy (“sheet of thin typing paper used together with carbon paper in a typewriter to make multiple copies of a document”) (noun sense 2); to distribute such flimsies.
- verb (figurative) To treat (someone or something) as paltry or unimportant; to demean, to underestimate.
Synonyms
fragile shaky cheap shoddy breakable delicate tender frail frailsome frangible slim tenuous ass bad base below par bottom-shelf BTEC bum cheap and nasty onionskin unconvincing slight thin
Antonyms
robust strong sturdy unflimsy well-founded substantiated serious thoughtful hale
Etymology
The origin of the adjective is uncertain; it is possibly from flim(-flam) (“(noun) false information presented as true, misinformation, nonsense; poor attempt at deception, confidence trick, pretence; (adjective) frivolous, nonsensical; deceptive; fictitious”) or a metathesis of film (“thin layer of a substance; slender thread”) + -sy (suffix forming adjectives and nouns).
The noun and verb are derived from the noun. Noun sense 4 (“metal container”) refers to the fact that the containers often split along their seams and leaked.
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Weak; feeble; limp; slight; vain; without strength or solidity; of loose and unsubstantial structure; without reason or plausibility; as, a flimsy argument, excuse, objection.
- noun Thin or transfer paper.
- noun A bank note. [Slang, Eng.]
Etymology [Cf. W. llumsi naked, bare, empty, slouggish, spiritless. Cf. Limsy.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “flimsy”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details