What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Flippant vs Profane - What's the difference?

flippant | profane |

As an adjective flippant

is (archaic) glib; speaking with ease and rapidity.

As a verb profane is

.

flippant

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • (archaic) glib; speaking with ease and rapidity
  • * Barrow
    • It becometh good men, in such cases, to be flippant and free in their speech.
  • nimble; limber.
  • Showing disrespect through a casual attitude, levity, and a lack of due seriousness; pert.
  • * Burke
    • a sort of flippant , vain discourse
  • * 1998 , , The Metaphysical Touch
    • The conversations had grown more adult over the years—she was less flippant , at least.
  • * 2000 , Anthony Howard and Jason Cowley, Decline and Fall, New Statesman, March 13, 2000
    • In the mid-1950s we both wrote for the same weekly, where her contributions were a good deal more serious and less flippant than mine.
  • * 2004 , , The Easy Way to Stop Smoking , page 147
    • Our society treats smoking flippantly as a slightly distasteful habit that can injure your health. It is not. It is drug addiction.

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Antonyms

    * serious

    Derived terms

    * flippancy

    See also

    * irreverent * pert * facetious * frivolous

    External links

    * * English words suffixed with -ant ----

    profane

    English

    Adjective

    (en-adj)
  • Unclean; ritually impure; unholy, desecrating a holy place or thing.
  • * Sir Walter Raleigh
    • Nothing is profane that serveth to holy things.
  • Not sacred or holy, unconsecrated; relating to non-religious matters, secular.
  • * I. Disraeli
    • profane authors
  • * Gibbon
    • The profane wreath was suspended before the shrine.
  • Treating sacred things with contempt, disrespect, irreverence, or undue familiarity; blasphemous, impious. Hence, specifically; Irreverent in language; taking the name of God in vain; given to swearing; blasphemous; as, a profane person, word, oath, or tongue.
    • a profane person, word, oath, or tongue
  • * Bible, 1 Timothy 1:9

    • Synonyms

    * (obscene) vulgar, inappropriate, obscene, debased, uncouth, offensive, ignoble, mean, lewd * secular * temporal * worldly * unsanctified * unhallowed * unholy * irreligious * irreverent * ungodly * wicked * godless * impious

    Antonyms

    * holy * sacred

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A person or thing that is profane.
  • * 1796 , Matthew Lewis, The Monk , Folio Society 1985, p. 244:
    • The nuns were employed in religious duties established in honour of St Clare, and to which no profane was ever admitted.
  • (freemasonry) A person not a Mason.

    • Verb

    (profan)
  • To violate, as anything sacred; to treat with abuse, irreverence, obloquy, or contempt; to desecrate; to pollute; as, to profane the name of God; to profane the Scriptures, or the ordinance of God.
  • * 1851 ,
    • With one mind, their intent eyes all fastened upon the old man’s knife, as he carved the chief dish before him. I do not suppose that for the world they would have profaned that moment with the slightest observation, even upon so neutral a topic as the weather.
  • To put to a wrong or unworthy use; to make a base employment of; to debase; to abuse; to defile.

    • Antonyms

    * consecrate * sanctify

    Related terms

    * profanation * profanity English transitive verbs ----