flippant
/ˈflɪp.ənt/ adjective
- adjective Showing disrespect through a casual attitude, levity, and a lack of due seriousness; pert.
- adjective (archaic) Loquacious; speaking with ease and rapidity.
- adjective (chiefly dialectal) Nimble; limber.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Etymology
1595, from Northern English dialectal flippand (“prattling, babbling, glib”), present participle of flip (“to babble”), of North Germanic origin. Cognate with Icelandic fleipa (“to babble, prattle”), Swedish dialectal flepa (“to talk nonsense”). Alteration of -and suffix (a variant of the participial -ing) to -ant probably due to influence from words in -ant.
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Of smooth, fluent, and rapid speech; speaking with ease and rapidity; having a voluble tongue; talkative.
- adjective Speaking fluently and confidently, without knowledge or consideration; empty; trifling; inconsederate; pert; petulant.
- noun A flippant person. [R.] Tennyson.
Etymology [Prov. E. flip to move nimbly; cf. W. llipa soft, limber, pliant, or Icel. fleipa to babble, prattle. Cf. Flip, Fillip, Flap, Flipper.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “flippant”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details