Library / English Dictionary

FLIRT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Playful behavior intended to arouse sexual interest

Synonyms:

coquetry; dalliance; flirt; flirtation; flirting; toying

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("flirt" is a kind of...):

caper; frolic; gambol; play; romp (gay or light-hearted recreational activity for diversion or amusement)

Derivation:

flirt (talk or behave amorously, without serious intentions)

flirtatious (like a coquette)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A seductive woman who uses her sex appeal to exploit men

Synonyms:

coquette; flirt; minx; prickteaser; tease; vamp; vamper

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("flirt" is a kind of...):

adult female; woman (an adult female person (as opposed to a man))

Derivation:

flirt (talk or behave amorously, without serious intentions)

flirtatious (like a coquette)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Talk or behave amorously, without serious intentions

Example:

My husband never flirts with other women

Synonyms:

butterfly; chat up; coquet; coquette; dally; flirt; mash; philander; romance

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "flirt" is one way to...):

speak; talk (exchange thoughts; talk with)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "flirt"):

wanton (engage in amorous play)

vamp (act seductively with (someone))

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Sentence example:

Sam wants to flirt with Sue

Derivation:

flirt (playful behavior intended to arouse sexual interest)

flirt (a seductive woman who uses her sex appeal to exploit men)

flirtation; flirting (playful behavior intended to arouse sexual interest)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Behave carelessly or indifferently

Example:

Play about with a young girl's affection

Synonyms:

dally; flirt; play; toy

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "flirt" is one way to...):

act; move (perform an action, or work out or perform (an action))

Verb group:

dally; play; trifle (consider not very seriously)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

flirting (playful behavior intended to arouse sexual interest)

Credits

 Context examples: 

The boat flirted over and snubbed in to the bank bottom up, while Thornton, flung sheer out of it, was carried down-stream toward the worst part of the rapids, a stretch of wild water in which no swimmer could live.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

There was a group of shabbily dressed men smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with cigars in their mouths.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And there, as they slowly paced the gradual ascent, heedless of every group around them, seeing neither sauntering politicians, bustling housekeepers, flirting girls, nor nursery-maids and children, they could indulge in those retrospections and acknowledgements, and especially in those explanations of what had directly preceded the present moment, which were so poignant and so ceaseless in interest.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

A woman in love with one man cannot flirt with another.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

I haven't flirted, Mother, truly, but remembered what you said to me, and have done my very best.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

He is the most horrible flirt that can be imagined.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

At Brighton she will be of less importance even as a common flirt than she has been here.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

It was only a shove, a flirt of the wrist, yet so tremendous was his strength that I was hurled backward as from a catapult.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

He really did look serious when he was saying it, and I couldn't help feeling a bit serious too—I know, Mina, you will think me a horrid flirt—though I couldn't help feeling a sort of exultation that he was number two in one day.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

I understand: she is in love with James, and flirts with Frederick.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)