flimsy
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈflɪmzi/
rhymes: -ɪmzi
Forms: form: flimsier
form: more flimsy
form: flimsiest
form: most flimsy
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.
Senses: examples: text: He expected the flimsy structure to collapse at any moment.
text: Yet do I carry every vvhere vvith me ſuch a confounded farago of doubts, fears, hopes, vviſhes, and all the flimſy furniture of a country Miſs's brain!
ref: 1775 January 17 (first performance), [Richard Brinsley Sheridan], The Rivals, a Comedy. […], London: […] John Wilkie, […], published 1775, →OCLC, Act II, scene i, page 20:
text: But reveries (for human minds vvill act) / Specious in ſhovv, impoſſible in fact, / Thoſe flimſy vvebs that break as ſoon as vvrought, / Attain not to the dignity of thought.
ref: 1782, William Cowper, “Retirement”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, page 290:
text: [T]here always comes a day when the rouſed publick indignation kicks their flimſy edifice down, and ſends its cowardly enemies a-flying.
ref: 1852, William Makepeace Thackeray, “Recapitulations”, in The History of Henry Esmond, Esq. […] , volume II, London: […] Smith, Elder, & Company, […], →OCLC, page 64:
text: […] I would have pulled that window out by its frame, if need be, to get to that table. There was no need, for the flimsy clasp gave at the first pull, and the sashes swung open.
ref: 1916, John Buchan, “Sparrows on the Housetops”, in Greenmantle, London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC, page 239:
text: "I've done nothing yet," he would say, "I don't think I've got any real genius. But if I keep trying I may write a good book." Fine dives have been made from flimsier spring-boards.
ref: 1934, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, Tender is the Night: A Romance, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC; republished as chapter VII, in Malcolm Cowley, editor, Tender is the Night: A Romance … With the Author’s Final Revisions, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1951, →OCLC, book IV (Escape: 1925–1929), page 223:
synonyms: fragile
shaky
weak
antonyms: robust
strong
sturdy
unflimsy
glosses: Likely to bend or break under pressure; easily damaged; frail, unsubstantial.
examples: text: Compelled, by its deformity, to screen / With flimsy veil of justice and of right, / Its unattractive lineaments, that scare / All, save the brood of ignorance: […]
ref: 1813, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Canto V”, in Queen Mab; […], London: […] P. B. Shelley, […], →OCLC, page 60:
text: She was wearing the flimsiest blouse and faded jeans.
ref: 2016, Mike Scantlebury, chapter 12, in Prince William (at Olympics 2012) (Amelia Hartliss Mysteries; 3), [Morrisville, N.C.]: Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 203:
synonyms: fragile
shaky
weak
diaphanous
filmy
gossamer
gossamer-thin
gossamery
antonyms: robust
strong
sturdy
unflimsy
glosses: Likely to bend or break under pressure; easily damaged; frail, unsubstantial.
Of clothing: very light and thin.
examples: text: a flimsy excuse
text: the flimsiest of theories
text: VVho ſhames a Scribler? break one cobvveb thro', / He ſpins the ſlight, ſelf-pleaſing thread anevv; / Deſtroy his Fib, or Sophiſtry; in vain, / The Creature's at his dirty vvork again; / Thron'd in the Centre of his thin deſigns; / Proud of a vaſt Extent of flimzy lines.
ref: 1735 January 13 (Gregorian calendar; indicated as 1734), [Alexander] Pope, An Epistle from Mr. Pope, to Dr. Arbuthnot, London: […] J[ohn] Wright for Lawton Gilliver […], →OCLC, page 5, lines 87–90:
text: And hovvever flimzey this title, and thoſe of VVilliam Rufus [William II of England] and Stephen of Blois [Stephen, King of England], may appear at this diſtance to us, after the lavv of deſcents hath novv been ſettled for ſo many centuries, they vvere ſufficient to puzzle the underſtandings of our brave, but unlettered, anceſtors.
ref: 1765, William Blackstone, “Of the King, and His Title”, in Commentaries on the Laws of England, book I (Of the Rights of Persons), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 194:
synonyms: feeble
unfounded
unsubstantiated
antonyms: well-founded
substantiated
glosses: Of an argument, explanation, etc.: ill-founded, unconvincing, weak; also, unimportant; paltry, trivial.
examples: text: "Yes, fell woman," answered Middlemas; "but was it I who encouraged the young tyrant's outrageous passion for a portrait, or who formed the abominable plan of placing the original within his power?" / "No—for to do so required brain and wit. But it was thine, flimsy villain, to execute the device which a bolder genius planned; it was thine to entice the woman to this foreign shore, under pretence of a love, which, on thy part, cold-blooded miscreant, never had existed."
ref: 1827, [Walter Scott], chapter XIII, in Chronicles of the Canongate; […], volume II (The Surgeon’s Daughter), Edinburgh: […] [Ballantyne and Co.] for Cadell and Co.; London: Simpkin and Marshall, →OCLC, page 305:
text: Poor, flimsy, wise, foolish, aristocratical, old-bachelor Horace Walpole, is shocked at his nephew [George Walpole, 3rd Earl of Orford?] marrying an actress who brought him good children, […]
ref: 1847, Leigh Hunt, “Duchess of St. Albans [Harriet Mellon], and Marriages from the Stage”, in Men, Women, and Books; a Selection of Sketches, Essays, and Critical Memoirs, […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […] , →OCLC, page 195:
synonyms: flighty
silly
trifling
unserious
antonyms: serious
thoughtful
glosses: Of a person: lacking depth of character or understanding; frivolous, superficial.
examples: text: […] I have a very flimsy constitution, consequently the young women won't taste my wit, and it is a long while before wit makes its own way in the world; especially, as I never prove it, by assuring people that I have it by me.
ref: 1742 January 18 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Horace Walpole, “Letter XVIII”, in Lord Dover [i.e., George Agar-Ellis, 1st Baron Dover], editor, Letters of Horace Walpole Earl of Orford, to Sir Horace Mann, British Envoy at the Court of Tuscany. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley […], published 1833, →OCLC, page 72:
glosses: Of a person, their physical makeup, or their health: delicate, frail.
Derived terms: word: flim
english: underwear
translation: underwear
word: flimsies
word: flimsify
word: flimsily
word: flimsiness
word: mimsy
word: slimsy
word: unflimsy