flimsy

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• General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /ˈflɪmzi/
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• General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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• General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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• rhymes with -ɪmzi
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• CMU ARPABET: F L IH1 M Z IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
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The origin of the adjective is uncertain; it is possibly from flim(-flam) (“(noun) false information presented as true, misinformation, nonsense; poor attempt at deception, confidence trick, pretence; (adjective) frivolous, nonsensical; deceptive; fictitious”) or a metathesis of film (“thin layer of a substance; slender thread”) + -sy (suffix forming adjectives and nouns). The noun and verb are derived from the noun. Noun sense 4 (“metal container”) refers to the fact that the containers often split along their seams and leaked.

68 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Afrikaans: breekbare — likely to bend or break under pressure; easily damaged
• Bulgarian: чуплив (čupliv) — likely to bend or break under pressure; easily damaged
• Bulgarian: крехък (krehǎk) — likely to bend or break under pressure; easily damaged
• Bulgarian: слаб (slab) — likely to bend or break under pressure; easily damaged
• Czech: chatrný — likely to bend or break under pressure; easily damaged
• Czech: křehký — likely to bend or break under pressure; easily damaged
• Danish: spinkel — likely to bend or break under pressure; easily damaged
• Danish: skrøbelig — likely to bend or break under pressure; easily damaged
• Dutch: breekbaar — likely to bend or break under pressure; easily damaged
• Finnish: hatara — likely to bend or break under pressure; easily damaged
• Finnish: heppoinen — likely to bend or break under pressure; easily damaged
• French: fragile — likely to bend or break under pressure; easily damaged
• French: frêle — likely to bend or break under pressure; easily damaged
• German: dünn — likely to bend or break under pressure; easily damaged
• German: hauchdünn — likely to bend or break under pressure; easily damaged
• German: leicht — likely to bend or break under pressure; easily damaged
• German: schwach — likely to bend or break under pressure; easily damaged
• German: zart — likely to bend or break under pressure; easily damaged
• German: zerbrechlich — likely to bend or break under pressure; easily damaged
• Latin: fragilis — likely to bend or break under pressure; easily damaged
• Māori: kopī — likely to bend or break under pressure; easily damaged
• Māori: kōpīpī — likely to bend or break under pressure; easily damaged
• Māori: marore — likely to bend or break under pressure; easily damaged
• Norwegian Bokmål: spinkel — likely to bend or break under pressure; easily damaged
• Norwegian Nynorsk: spinkel — likely to bend or break under pressure; easily damaged
• Plautdietsch: pukrich — likely to bend or break under pressure; easily damaged
• Portuguese: frágil — likely to bend or break under pressure; easily damaged
• Portuguese: receoso — likely to bend or break under pressure; easily damaged
• Portuguese: trémulo — likely to bend or break under pressure; easily damaged
• Russian: хлипкий (xlipkij) — likely to bend or break under pressure; easily damaged
• Russian: хру́пкий (xrúpkij) — likely to bend or break under pressure; easily damaged
• Serbo-Croatian: slab — likely to bend or break under pressure; easily damaged
• Serbo-Croatian: krhak — likely to bend or break under pressure; easily damaged
• Spanish: endeble — likely to bend or break under pressure; easily damaged
• Spanish: poco sólido — likely to bend or break under pressure; easily damaged
• Spanish: tembleque — likely to bend or break under pressure; easily damaged
• Spanish: enclenque — likely to bend or break under pressure; easily damaged
• Spanish: cañinque — likely to bend or break under pressure; easily damaged
• Spanish: caedizo — likely to bend or break under pressure; easily damaged
• Finnish: niukka — of clothing: very light and thin
• German: dünn — of clothing: very light and thin
• Czech: chabý — of an argument, explanation, etc.: ill-founded, unconvincing, weak — see also unconvincing, weak
• Czech: chatrný — of an argument, explanation, etc.: ill-founded, unconvincing, weak — see also unconvincing, weak
• Danish: svag — of an argument, explanation, etc.: ill-founded, unconvincing, weak — see also unconvincing, weak
• Danish: tynd — of an argument, explanation, etc.: ill-founded, unconvincing, weak — see also unconvincing, weak
• Finnish: hatara — of an argument, explanation, etc.: ill-founded, unconvincing, weak — see also unconvincing, weak
• Finnish: heppoinen — of an argument, explanation, etc.: ill-founded, unconvincing, weak — see also unconvincing, weak
• French: faible — of an argument, explanation, etc.: ill-founded, unconvincing, weak — see also unconvincing, weak
• French: fragile — of an argument, explanation, etc.: ill-founded, unconvincing, weak — see also unconvincing, weak
• German: fadenscheinig — of an argument, explanation, etc.: ill-founded, unconvincing, weak — see also unconvincing, weak
• Serbo-Croatian: slab — of an argument, explanation, etc.: ill-founded, unconvincing, weak — see also unconvincing, weak
• Serbo-Croatian: traljav — of an argument, explanation, etc.: ill-founded, unconvincing, weak — see also unconvincing, weak
• Spanish: endeble — of an argument, explanation, etc.: ill-founded, unconvincing, weak — see also unconvincing, weak
• Spanish: pobre — of an argument, explanation, etc.: ill-founded, unconvincing, weak — see also unconvincing, weak
• Spanish: poco sólido — of an argument, explanation, etc.: ill-founded, unconvincing, weak — see also unconvincing, weak
• Spanish: tembleque — of an argument, explanation, etc.: ill-founded, unconvincing, weak — see also unconvincing, weak
• Bulgarian: пелюр (peljur) — thin typing paper used together with carbon paper in a typewriter to make multiple copies of a document; sheet of such paper
• Danish: gennemslagspapir — thin typing paper used together with carbon paper in a typewriter to make multiple copies of a document; sheet of such paper
• Finnish: läpilyöntipaperi — thin typing paper used together with carbon paper in a typewriter to make multiple copies of a document; sheet of such paper
• French: calque — thin typing paper used together with carbon paper in a typewriter to make multiple copies of a document; sheet of such paper
• French: papier calque — thin typing paper used together with carbon paper in a typewriter to make multiple copies of a document; sheet of such paper
• Irish: páipéar tanaí — thin typing paper used together with carbon paper in a typewriter to make multiple copies of a document; sheet of such paper
• Serbo-Croatian: pelir — thin typing paper used together with carbon paper in a typewriter to make multiple copies of a document; sheet of such paper
• Spanish: papel cebolla — thin typing paper used together with carbon paper in a typewriter to make multiple copies of a document; sheet of such paper
• Finnish: läpilyöntipaperi — document printed or typed on such paper
• Finnish: kanisteri — metal container used by the British Army during World War II to hold fuel
• Finnish: hataroittaa — to make (something) likely to be easily damaged
• Finnish: kirjoittaa läpilyöntipaperille — to type or write (text) on a flimsy