flippant adj : showing inappropriate levity [syn: light-minded]

English

Pronunciation

• US:
  • /"flI.pEnt/

Adjective

1. Lacking proper respect or seriousness, showing inappropriate levity; pert.
   • 2000: Anthony Howard and Jason Cowley, Decline and Fall, New Statesman, March 13, 2000 - In the mid-1950s we both wrote for the same weekly, where her contributions were a good deal more serious and less flippant than mine.
   • Sylvia Brownrigg, The Metaphysical Touch - The conversations had grown more adult over the years--she was less flippant, at least.
   • Allen Carr, Allen Carrs Easyway To Stop Smoking - Our society treats smoking flippantly as a slightly distasteful habit that can injure your health. It is not. It is drug addiction.

Related terms

• flippancy
• irreverent
• pert
• facetious

Translations

French

Verb

flippant

airy, bantering, belittling, biggety, bluff, booing, brash, brazen, careless, casual, catcalling, chaffing, cheeky, chutzpadik, cocky, contemptuous, crusty, cursory, degage, derisive, derisory, discourteous, dismissive, disregardant, disregardful, disrespectful, easygoing, facetious, facy, fleering, flip, fooling, forgetful, free and easy, fresh, frivolous, gally, gratuitous, grinning, heedless, hissing, hooting, impertinent, impudent, inconsiderate, indifferent, insolent, insouciant, irreverent, jeering, jocular, joshing, kidding, lazy, leering, light-hearted, malapert, mocking, nervy, oblivious, offhand, offhanded, panning, perfunctory, pert, quizzical, ragging, railing, rallying, razzing, reckless, regardless, respectless, ridiculing, roasting, rude, sassy, saucy, scoffing, scornful, shallow, smart, smart-alecky, smart-ass, smirking, sneering, snickering, sniggering, snorting, supercilious, superficial, tactless, taunting, teasing, thoughtless, twitting, uncalled-for, undiplomatic, unheedful, unheeding, unmindful, unprepared, unready, unserious, unsolicitous, untactful, unthinking, wise-ass