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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. adj. Light, thin, and insubstantial: a flimsy fabric.
  2. adj. Lacking solidity or strength: a flimsy table.
  3. adj. Lacking plausibility; unconvincing: a flimsy excuse.
  4. n. Thin paper usually used to make multiple copies.
  5. n. Something written on this thin paper.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. Without material strength or solid substance; of loose and unsubstantial structure.
  2. Without strength or force of any kind; weak; ineffectual: as, a flimsy argument.
  3. Synonyms Unsubstantial, thin, slight.
  4. Feeble, trivial, shallow, superficial, frivolous, foolish, puerile.
  5. n. A thin sort of paper by means of which several copies of a writing may be made at once; transfer-paper.
  6. n. A bank-note, from its being made of thin paper.
  7. n. A manifold copy of a report or despatch made on flimsy; reporters' ‘copy’; a duplicate or a triplicate writing made on flimsy.

Wiktionary

  1. adj. Likely to bend or break under pressure; weak, shaky, flexible, or fragile.
  2. n. Thin typing paper used to make multiple copies

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. adj. Weak; feeble; limp; slight; vain; without strength or solidity; of loose and unsubstantial structure; without reason or plausibility.
  2. n. Thin or transfer paper.
  3. n. A bank note.

WordNet 3.0

  1. adj. lacking solidity or strength
  2. n. a thin strong lightweight translucent paper used especially for making carbon copies
  3. adj. lacking substance or significance
  4. adj. not convincing

Etymologies

  1. Origin unknown.

Examples

  • “Granted, the word "flimsy" overstates the fiction of separateness between the Republican super PACs and the candidates they are supporting.”

    Washington Post: Breaking News, World, US, DC News & Analysis

  • “The leaders pointed to previous alleged assassination plots based on what they called flimsy evidence.”

    CNN.com

  • “They showed Long, primping and preening in flimsy muscle shirts that hugged every ripple in the fifty-seven year-old's startlingly chiseled physique.”

    The Huffington Post: Zandile Blay: Bishop Eddie Long: A Wolf in Chic Clothing?

  • “So this pretext, though flimsy, is more than adequate.”

    Archive 2007-05-01

  • “Nor, perhaps, did they wish the supernatural to meld with the sexual, as otherworldly beings turned out to be alluring mortal women in flimsy garments.”

    Scott Repatriated?: La Dame blanche Crosses the Channel

  • “Then suddenly I found myself alone, and flitting from dwelling to dwelling, from home to home; and everywhere the gentlemen were dressed in flimsy materials, and all more or less decked with trimmings.”

    Man's Rights: or, How Would You Like It?

  • “I enjoyed it very much in flimsy form, though I’m sad to see that they apparently use that hideous J. Scott Campbell cover for the collection.”

    Upcoming 1/6/2010

  • “Many of the very poor live in flimsy shacks that weren’t too dangerous when they collapsed.”

    Matthew Yglesias » Haiti

  • “He recalled her flimsy excuse, which she had later on contradicted.”

    Juggernaut

  • “Currently, authorities are holding dozens of military officers in jail on what critics describe as flimsy, politically motivated charges.”

    News - latimes.com

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‘flimsy’ has been looked up 1964 times, loved by 4 people, added to 25 lists, and has a Scrabble score of 14.