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.

Limber vs Flippant - What's the difference?

limber | flippant |

As adjectives the difference between limber and flippant

is that limber is flexible, pliant, bendable while flippant is (archaic) glib; speaking with ease and rapidity.

As a verb limber

is to cause to become limber; to make flexible or pliant or limber can be (obsolete) to prepare an artillery piece for transportation (ie, to attach it to its limber).

As a noun limber

is (obsolete) a two-wheeled, horse-drawn vehicle used to pull an artillery piece into battle.

limber

English

Etymology 1

(en)

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Flexible, pliant, bendable.
    • He's so limber that he can kiss his knee without bending it.
  • * Turberville
    • The bargeman that doth row with long and limber oar.
    Derived terms
    * limber up

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To cause to become limber; to make flexible or pliant.
  • * (Richardson)

    • Etymology 2

    For the obsolete (limmer), from (etyl)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete) A two-wheeled, horse-drawn vehicle used to pull an artillery piece into battle.
  • (in the plural) The shafts or thills of a wagon or carriage.
  • (military) The detachable fore part of a gun carriage, consisting of two wheels, an axle, and a shaft to which the horses are attached. On top is an ammunition box upon which the cannoneers sit.
  • *1985 , (Peter Carey), Illywhacker , Faber and Faber 2003, p. 29:
  • *:we covered the rutted, rattling, dusty pot-holed roads of coastal Victoria, six big Walers in front, the cannon at the rear, and that unsprung cart they called a ‘limber ’ in the middle.
  • (nautical, in the plural) Gutters or conduits on each side of the keelson to allow water to pass to the pump well.
    • Usage notes
    * Sometimes the plural limbers was used to refer to a single such vehicle.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (obsolete) To prepare an artillery piece for transportation (i.e., to attach it to its limber.)
    • Antonyms
    * unlimber

    References

    * Oxford English Dictionary , 2nd ed., 1989. * Notes:

    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 ----