Adjacent Words

Flimsy definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

FLIM'SY, a. s as z. [The word is retained by the common people in New England in limsy, weak, limber, easily bending.]
1. Weak; feeble; slight; vain; without strength or solid substance; as a flimsy pretext; a flimsy excuse; flimsy objections.
2. Without strength or force; spiritless.
Proud of a vast extent of flimsy lines.
3. Thin; of loose texture; as flimsy cloth or stuff. [Little used.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: lacking solidity or strength; "a flimsy table"; "flimsy construction"
2: not convincing; "unconvincing argument"; "as unconvincing as a forced smile" [syn: unconvincing, flimsy] [ant: convincing]
3: lacking substance or significance; "slight evidence"; "a tenuous argument"; "a thin plot"; a fragile claim to fame" [syn: flimsy, fragile, slight, tenuous, thin] n
1: a thin strong lightweight translucent paper used especially for making carbon copies [syn: onionskin, flimsy]

Merriam Webster's

I. adjective (flimsier; -est) Etymology: perhaps alteration of ¹film + -sy (as in tricksy) Date: circa 1702 1. a. lacking in physical strength or substance <flimsy silks> b. of inferior materials and workmanship 2. having little worth or plausibility <a flimsy excuse> • flimsily adverb • flimsiness noun II. noun (plural flimsies) Date: 1814 chiefly British a lightweight paper used especially for multiple copies; also a document printed on flimsy

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. & n. --adj. (flimsier, flimsiest) 1 lightly or carelessly assembled; insubstantial, easily damaged (a flimsy structure). 2 (of an excuse etc.) unconvincing (a flimsy pretext). 3 paltry; trivial; superficial (a flimsy play). 4 (of clothing) thin (a flimsy blouse). --n. (pl. -ies) 1 a very thin paper. b a document, esp. a copy, made on this. 2 a flimsy thing, esp. women's underwear. Derivatives: flimsily adv. flimsiness n. Etymology: 17th c.: prob. f. FLIMFLAM: cf. TIPSY

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Flimsy Flim"sy, a. [Compar. Flimsier; superl. Flimsiest.] [Cf. W. llymsi naked, bare, empty, sluggish, spiritless. Cf. Limsy.] Weak; feeble; limp; slight; vain; without strength or solidity; of loose and unsubstantial structure; without reason or plausibility; as, a flimsy argument, excuse, objection. Proud of a vast extent of flimsy lines. --Pope. All the flimsy furniture of a country miss's brain. --Sheridan. Syn: Weak; feeble; superficial; shallow; vain.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Flimsy Flim"sy, n. 1. Thin or transfer paper. 2. A bank note. [Slang, Eng.]

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(flimsier, flimsiest) 1. A flimsy object is weak because it is made of a weak material, or is badly made. ...a flimsy wooden door. ...a pair of flimsy shoes. ADJ 2. Flimsy cloth or clothing is thin and does not give much protection. ...a very flimsy pink chiffon nightgown. ADJ 3. If you describe something such as evidence or an excuse as flimsy, you mean that it is not very good or convincing. The charges were based on very flimsy evidence. = weak, unconvincing ADJ

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Slight, thin, unsubstantial, of frail texture. 2. Weak, feeble, trivial, frivolous, foolish, trifling, light, puerile, shallow, superficial, trashy.

Moby Thesaurus

adulterated, airy, asinine, attenuate, attenuated, boyish, breakable, brittle, brittle as glass, catchpenny, cheap-jack, cobwebby, crackable, crisp, crispy, crumbly, crushable, cut, dainty, decrepit, delicate, delicately weak, diaphanous, dilapidated, dilute, diluted, effeminate, empty, ethereal, fatuous, feeble, filmy, fine, fine-drawn, finespun, fissile, flabby, flaccid, floppy, foolish, fracturable, fragile, frail, frangible, friable, fribble, fribbling, frivolous, frothy, futile, gaseous, gauzy, gimcrack, gimcracky, girlish, gossamer, gossamery, gracile, idle, implausible, improbable, inadequate, inane, inconceivable, inconclusive, incredible, infirm, insubstantial, jerry, jerry-built, lacerable, lacy, lax, light, lightweight, limp, loose, makeshift, misty, namby-pamby, nugacious, nugatory, otiose, paltry, papery, pasteboardy, poor, puny, ramshackle, rare, rarefied, relaxed, rickety, rubbery, scissile, shaky, shallow, shatterable, shattery, sheer, shivery, silly, sissified, sleazy, slender, slenderish, slight, slight-made, slim, slimmish, slinky, small, splintery, subtile, subtle, superficial, svelte, sylphlike, tacky, tenuous, thin, thin-bodied, thin-set, thin-spun, thinned, thinned-out, thinnish, threadlike, transparent, trifling, trite, trivial, unbelievable, uncompact, uncompressed, unconvincing, unproved, unrigorous, unsatisfactory, unsound, unsubstantial, unsustained, vacuous, vague, vain, vapid, vaporous, vulnerable, wasp-waisted, watered, watered-down, watery, weak, weakly, willowy, windy, wiredrawn, wispy, womanish