flippant

Meaning

1. Showing disrespect through a casual attitude, levity, and a lack of due seriousness; pert.
2. (archaic) Loquacious; speaking with ease and rapidity.
3. (dialectal) Nimble; limber.

Synonyms

frivolous

light

light-minded

nonchalant

fickle

shallow

fresh

saucy

light-headed

skin-deep

flighty

flip

impertinent

forward

lightsome

offhand

perfunctory

pert

presumptuous

put down

resilient

restless

sassy

sciolistic

slight

snub

superficial

thoughtless

do mischief

yeasty

snotty-nosed

be mischievous

be disrespectful

arrogant

facete

audacious

brazen

buoyant

capricious

casual

cursory

facetious

feathery

gentle

giddy

glib

insolent

jocular

Translations

frivolo

cavalier

désinvolte

ligero

impertinente

küstah

Leichtfertigkeit

فطن

frivol

leichtsinnig

oneerbiedig

spottend

vorlaut

schnippisch

frech

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈflɪ.pənt/

Etymology

Cognate with Icelandic: fleipa

In summary

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.