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Flippant vs Sardonic - What's the difference?

flippant | sardonic |

As adjectives the difference between flippant and sardonic

is that flippant is glib; speaking with ease and rapidity while sardonic is scornfully mocking or cynical.

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 ----

    sardonic

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Scornfully mocking or cynical.
    • He distances himself from people with his nasty, sardonic laughter.
  • * Sir H. Wotton
    • strained, sardonic smiles
  • * Burke
    • the scornful, ferocious, sardonic grin of a bloody ruffian
  • Disdainfully or ironically humorous.

    • Related terms

    * Sardonian