What does "flake" mean?
A loose filmy mass or a thin chiplike layer of anything
Flake
name, noun, verb, slang
name, noun, verb, slang ·1 syllable ·Common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A loose filmy mass or a thin chiplike layer of anything
- Grammar: flake is listed as name, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: chip, aliene, arrange in layers, avalanche.
- Useful contrasts: adhere, commit, dependable individual.
- Usage evidence: Let's take precautions against heat fatigue, before we flake out from the heat, and have a healthy summer.
How to use "flake"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "flake" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "flake" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "flake" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "flake" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "flake" is acting as name, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "chip" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "flake", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A loose filmy mass or a thin chiplike layer of anything
"There were a few flakes of paint on the floor from when we were painting the walls."
- 2 Dogfish. UK, uncountable
- 3 A paling; a hurdle. UK, dialectal
- 4 a small fragment of something broken off from the whole wordnet
- 5 A scale of a fish or similar animal
Show 12 more definitions
- 6 The meat of the gummy shark. Australia, uncountable
"Larger shark received about 10%/kg less than those in the 4-6 kg range. Most of the Victorian landed product is wholesaled as carcasses on the Melbourne Fish Market where it is sold to fish and chip shops, the retail sector and through restaurants as ‘flake’."
- 7 A platform of hurdles, or small sticks made fast or interwoven, supported by stanchions, for drying codfish and other things.
"You shall also, after they be ripe, neither suffer them to have straw nor fern under them, but lay them either upon some smooth table, boards, or flakes of wands, and they will last the longer."
- 8 a person with an unusual or odd personality wordnet
- 9 A prehistoric tool chipped out of stone.
- 10 A small stage hung over a vessel's side, for workmen to stand on while calking, etc.
- 11 a crystal of snow wordnet
- 12 A person who is impractical, flighty, unreliable, or inconsistent; especially with maintaining a living. informal
"She makes pleasant conversation, but she's kind of a flake when it comes time for action."
- 13 Alternative form of fake (“turn or coil of cable or hawser”). alt-of, alternative
"Flake after flake ran out of the tubs, until we were compelled to hand the end of our line to the second mate to splice his own on to."
- 14 A carnation with only two colours in the flower, the petals having large stripes.
- 15 A flat turn or tier of rope.
"Admiral: What mean you by flakes? Captain: They are only those several circles or rounds of the roapes or cables, that are quoiled up round."
- 16 A corrupt arrest, e.g. to extort money for release or merely to fulfil a quota. US, slang
"When police decided to score gamblers, they would most often flake people with gambling slips, then demand $25 or $50 for not arresting them. Other times, they would simply threaten a flake and demand money."
- 17 A wire rack for drying fish.
Verb
- 1 To break or chip off in a flake.
"The paint flaked off after only a year."
- 2 come off in flakes or thin small pieces wordnet
- 3 To prove unreliable or impractical; to abandon or desert, to fail to follow through. colloquial
"He said he'd come and help, but he flaked."
- 4 cover with flakes or as if with flakes wordnet
- 5 To store an item such as rope or sail in layers
"The line is flaked into the container for easy attachment and deployment."
Show 4 more definitions
- 6 form into flakes wordnet
- 7 To hit (another person). Ireland, slang
- 8 To plant evidence to facilitate a corrupt arrest. US, slang
"When police decided to score gamblers, they would most often flake people with gambling slips, then demand $25 or $50 for not arresting them. Other times, they would simply threaten a flake and demand money."
- 9 To lay out on a flake for drying.
"flake a fish"
Proper Noun
- 1 A surname.
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
"Let's take precautions against heat fatigue, before we flake out from the heat, and have a healthy summer."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "flake"?
Common synonyms include: chip, aliene, arrange in layers, avalanche, back out, band.
How do you use "flake" in a sentence?
Let's take precautions against heat fatigue, before we flake out from the heat, and have a healthy summer.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English flake (“a flake of snow”), from Old English flacca and/or Old Norse flak (“loose or torn piece”) (compare Old Norse flakna (“to flake or chip”)), from Proto-Germanic *flaką (“something flat”), from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- (“flat, broad, plain”). Cognate with Norwegian flak (“slice, sliver”, literally “piece torn off”), Swedish flak (“a thin slice”), Danish flage (“flake”), German Flocke (“flake”), Dutch vlak (“smooth surface, plain”) and vlok (“flake”), as well as with Latin plaga (“flat surface, district, region”) and Welsh llech (“slate, tablet”). Doublet of plage.
Etymology 2
A name given to dogfish to improve its marketability as a food, perhaps from etymology 1.
Etymology 3
Compare Icelandic flaki, Icelandic fleki, Danish flage, Dutch vlaak.