What does "flimsy" mean?
A thing which is ill-founded, unconvincing, or weak.
Flimsy
/ˈflɪmzi/ adj, noun, verb, slang
adj, noun, verb, slang ·Very common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A thing which is ill-founded, unconvincing, or weak.
- Grammar: flimsy is listed as adj, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: fragile, adulterated, airy, article.
- Useful contrasts: stalwart, comprehensive, convincing.
- Usage evidence: The flimsy stalls in this restroom offer very little privacy.
How to use "flimsy"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "flimsy" 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 "flimsy" 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 "flimsy" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "flimsy" 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 "flimsy" is acting as adj, 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 "fragile" 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 "flimsy", 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 thing which is ill-founded, unconvincing, or weak. countable, dated, historical, uncountable
"Is every body incapable of reaſon, and making a right eſtimate of the merits of men? caught vvith mere outſide? chooſing the flimſy before the ſubſtantial?"
- 2 a thin strong lightweight translucent paper used especially for making carbon copies wordnet
- 3 Thin typing paper used together with carbon paper in a typewriter to make multiple copies of a document; (countable) a sheet of such paper. also, attributive, dated, historical, uncountable
"“‘Pray, miss,’ he said, ‘do not interrupt me. I represent the Press. The Fourth Estate, miss. I’m afraid I shan’t have enough flimsy.’ “Those were his very words, Kate. By flimsy, I learn that he meant writing paper. Do our great poets—does my adored [Alfred, Lord] Tennyson write on ‘flimsy?’[”]"
- 4 A document printed or typed on such paper.; A service certificate. broadly, countable, dated, historical, slang
"A perusal of the comments of officers under whom he [Captain Duncan Herbert Stevens] has served as recorded in his “flimsies" indicates that he has almost consistently received high commendation for his service."
- 5 A document printed or typed on such paper.; A banknote; (uncountable) paper money. broadly, countable, dated, historical, slang
"In English Exchequer-bills full half a million, / Not “kites,” manufactured to cheat and inveigle, / But the right sort of ‘flimsy,’ all sign’d by Monteagle."
Show 2 more definitions
- 6 A document printed or typed on such paper.; The text to be set into pages of magazines, newspapers, etc.; copy. broadly, dated, historical, uncountable
"[page 31] Sub-editors are now hard at work cutting down "flimsy," ramming sheets of "copy" on files, endlessly conferring with perspiring foremen. […] [page 34] The last report from the late debate in the Commons has come in; the last paragraph of interesting news, dropped into the box by a stealthy penny-a-liner, has been eliminated from a mass of flimsy on its probation, and for the most part rejected; […]"
- 7 A hexahedral metal container with a capacity of four imperial gallons (about 18 litres) used by the British Army during World War II to hold fuel. UK, countable, dated, historical, slang, uncountable
"But the Q[uartermaster] has ballsed-up T3 patrol's fuel ration; instead of jerry cans we get "flimsies," the notorious four-gallon containers made of metal so thin you can practically puncture it with a fingernail. Flimsies come two to a case, packed in cardboard. Of seventy-six that Collier's crew take down from the Mack, twenty-one are leaking at the seams; eleven have drained half to nil."
Verb
- 1 To make (something) likely to be easily damaged. dated, historical, transitive
"Its method may be roughly said to be the invention, at all events for the main characters in their novels, of a psychology so tortuous and devious that its fantastic contours cannot be fitted into any single act or situation of or in life without an elaborate apparatus of dissertation. The artistic disadvantages of the method are many. One, and perhaps the chief, is a weakening—a "flimsying" of the structure because a proper proportion of the obvious, which is the thews and sinews of fiction, has, perforce, to be left out."
- 2 To type or write (text) on a flimsy (“sheet of thin typing paper used together with carbon paper in a typewriter to make multiple copies of a document”) (noun noun sense 2); to distribute such flimsies. dated, historical, transitive
"An interview is not a speech. […] If a man wants to publish an allocution of this kind, he should write it out and give it to me, or anyone else—a newsagency for example—and it will be "flimsied" to most of our English daily papers, whose conductors would, of course, use their own discretion as to how much or how little of it they would use. But in no sense of the word could such a performance be properly classified under the heading of the interview."
- 3 To treat (someone or something) as paltry or unimportant; to demean, to underestimate. dated, figuratively, historical, transitive
"What she sacrificed in energy, emotion and integrity, diminished her rather than excelled. […] Teri suddenly saw herself flimsied by bargains she had negotiated too readily."
Adjective
- 1 Likely to bend or break under pressure; easily damaged; frail, unsubstantial.
"He expected the flimsy structure to collapse at any moment."
- 2 Likely to bend or break under pressure; easily damaged; frail, unsubstantial.; Of clothing: very light and thin.
"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: […]"
- 3 Of an argument, explanation, etc.: ill-founded, unconvincing, weak; also, unimportant; paltry, trivial. figuratively
"a flimsy excuse"
- 4 Of a person: lacking depth of character or understanding; frivolous, superficial. figuratively
""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.""
- 5 Of a person, their physical makeup, or their health: delicate, frail. figuratively, obsolete
"[…] 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."
Adjective
- 1 not convincing wordnet
- 2 lacking substance or significance wordnet
- 3 lacking solidity or strength wordnet
Example
"The flimsy stalls in this restroom offer very little privacy."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "flimsy"?
Common synonyms include: fragile, adulterated, airy, article, asinine, attenuate.
How do you use "flimsy" in a sentence?
The flimsy stalls in this restroom offer very little privacy.
How do you pronounce "flimsy"?
Pronounced /ˈflɪmzi/.
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 noun sense 4 (“metal container”) refers to the fact that the containers often split along their seams and leaked.