Adjective

(en adjective)

Capable of being touched, felt or handled; touchable, tangible.

* (William Shakespeare), Hamlet , act 5, sc. 2:

Osric: A hit, a very palpable hit.

* 1838 , (Edgar Allan Poe), "Ligeia":

I had felt that some palpable although invisible object had passed lightly by my person.

* 1894 , (Bret Harte), "The Heir of the McHulishes" in A Protegee of Jack Hamlin's and Other Stories :

The next morning the fog had given way to a palpable , horizontally driving rain.

Obvious or easily perceived; noticeable.

*

, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=Although the Celebrity was almost impervious to sarcasm, he was now beginning to exhibit visible signs of uneasiness,

* 1913 , (Sax Rohmer), The Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu ch. 24:

Her voice, her palpable agitation, prepared us for something extraordinary.

* 1916 , (Kathleen Norris), The Heart of Rachael , ch. 7:

No use in raging, in reasoning, in arguing. No use in setting forth the facts, the palpable right and wrong.

(medicine) That can be detected by palpation.

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.