flimsy

• POS: Adjective, Noun
• HYPHEN: flim=sy

CIDE DICTIONARY

flimsy, a. [Cf. W. llymsi naked, bare, empty, sluggish, spiritless. Cf. Limsy.].

 Weak; feeble; limp; slight; vain; without strength or solidity; of loose and unsubstantial structure; without reason or plausibility; as, a flimsy argument, excuse, objection.  [1913 Webster]
"Proud of a vast extent of flimsy lines."  [1913 Webster]
"All the flimsy furniture of a country miss's brain."

Syn. -- Weak; feeble; superficial; shallow; vain.

flimsy, n. 

•  Thin or transfer paper.  [1913 Webster]
•  A bank note.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

flimsy, adj. & n.
--adj. (flimsier, flimsiest)
1 lightly or carelessly assembled; insubstantial, easily damaged (a flimsy structure).
2 (of an excuse etc.) unconvincing (a flimsy pretext).
3 paltry; trivial; superficial (a flimsy play).
4 (of clothing) thin (a flimsy blouse).
--n. (pl. -ies)
1 a very thin paper. b a document, esp. a copy, made on this.
2 a flimsy thing, esp. women's underwear.

Derivative

flimsily adv. flimsiness n.

Etymology

17th c.: prob. f. FLIMFLAM: cf. TIPSY

THESAURUS

flimsy

adulterated, airy, asinine, attenuate, attenuated, boyish, breakable, brittle, brittle as glass, catchpenny, cheap-jack, cobwebby, crackable, crisp, crispy, crumbly, crushable, cut, dainty, decrepit, delicate, delicately weak, diaphanous, dilapidated, dilute, diluted, effeminate, empty, ethereal, fatuous, feeble, filmy, fine, fine-drawn, finespun, fissile, flabby, flaccid, floppy, foolish, fracturable, fragile, frail, frangible, friable, fribble, fribbling, frivolous, frothy, futile, gaseous, gauzy, gimcrack, gimcracky, girlish, gossamer, gossamery, gracile, idle, implausible, improbable, inadequate, inane, inconceivable, inconclusive, incredible, infirm, insubstantial, jerry, jerry-built, lacerable, lacy, lax, light, lightweight, limp, loose, makeshift, misty, namby-pamby, nugacious, nugatory, otiose, paltry, papery, pasteboardy, poor, puny, ramshackle, rare, rarefied, relaxed, rickety, rubbery, scissile, shaky, shallow, shatterable, shattery, sheer, shivery, silly, sissified, sleazy, slender, slenderish, slight, slight-made, slim, slimmish, slinky, small, splintery, subtile, subtle, superficial, svelte, sylphlike, tacky, tenuous, thin, thin-bodied, thin-set, thin-spun, thinned, thinned-out, thinnish, threadlike, transparent, trifling, trite, trivial, unbelievable, uncompact, uncompressed, unconvincing, unproved, unrigorous, unsatisfactory, unsound, unsubstantial, unsustained, vacuous, vague, vain, vapid, vaporous, vulnerable, wasp-waisted, watered, watered-down, watery, weak, weakly, willowy, windy, wiredrawn, wispy, womanish

ROGET THESAURUS

flimsy

Unimportance

N unimportance, insignificance, nothingness, immateriality, triviality, levity, frivolity, paltriness, poverty, smallness, vanity, matter of indifference, no object, nothing, nothing to signify, nothing worth speaking of, nothing particular, nothing to boast of, nothing to speak of, small matter, no great matter, trifling matter, mere joke, mere nothing, hardly anything, scarcely anything, nonentity, small beer, cipher, no great shakes, peu de chose, child's play, kinderspiel, toy, plaything, popgun, paper pellet, gimcrack, gewgaw, bauble, trinket, bagatelle, Rickshaw, knickknack, whim-wham, trifle, trifles light as air, yankee notions, trumpery, trash, rubbish, stuff, fatras, frippery, leather or prunello, chaff, drug, froth bubble smoke, cobweb, weed, refuse, scum, joke, jest, snap of the fingers, fudge, fiddlestick, fiddlestick end, pack of nonsense, mere farce, straw, pin, fig, button, rush, bulrush, feather, halfpenny, farthing, brass farthing, doit, peppercorn, jot, rap, pinch of snuff, old son, cent, mill, picayune, pistareen, red cent, minutiae, details, minor details, small fry, dust in the balance, feather in the scale, drop in the ocean, flea-bite, molehill, nine days' wonder, ridiculus mus, flash in the pan, much ado about nothing, unimportant, of little account, of small account, of no account, of little importance, of no importance, immaterial, unessential, nonessential, indifferent, subordinate, mediocre, passable, fair, respectable, tolerable, commonplace, uneventful, mere, common, ordinary, inconsiderable, so-so, insignificant, inappreciable, trifling, trivial, slight, slender, light, flimsy, frothy, idle, puerile, airy, shallow, weak, powerless, frivolous, petty, niggling, piddling, peddling, fribble, inane, ridiculous, farcical, finical, finikin, fiddle-faddle, fingle-fangle, namby-pamby, wishy-washy, milk and water, poor, paltry, pitiful, contemptible, sorry, mean, meager, shabby, miserable, wretched, vile, scrubby, scrannel, weedy, niggardly, scurvy, putid, beggarly, worthless, twopennyhalfpenny, cheap, trashy, catchpenny, gimcrack, trumpery, one- horse, not worth the pains, not worth while, not worth mentioning, not worth speaking of, not worth a thought, not worth a curse, not worth a straw, beneath notice, unworthy of notice, beneath regard, unworthy of regard, beneath consideration, unworthy of consideration, de lana caprina, vain, slightly, rather, somewhat, pretty well, tolerably, for aught one cares, Int, no matter!, pish!, tush!, tut!, pshaw!, pugh!, pooh, pooh-pooh!, fudge!, bosh!, humbug!, fiddlestick, fiddlestick end!, fiddlededee!, never mind!, n'importe!, what signifies it, what boots it, what of it, what of that, what matter, what's the odds, a fig for', stuff!, nonsense!, stuff and nonsense, magno conatu magnas nugas, le jeu ne vaut pas la chandelle, it matters not, it does not signify, it is of no consequence, it is of no importance, elephantus non capit murem, tempete dans un verre d'eau.

Weakness

N weakness, debility, atony, relaxation, languor, enervation, impotence, infirmity, effeminacy, feminality, fragility, flaccidity, inactivity, anaemia, bloodlessness, deficiency of blood, poverty of blood, declension of strength, loss of strength, failure of strength, delicacy, invalidation, decrepitude, asthenia, adynamy, cachexy, cachexia, sprain, strain, reed, thread, rope of sand, house of cards, softling, weakling, infant, youth, weak, feeble, debile, impotent, relaxed, unnerved sapless, strengthless, powerless, weakly, unstrung, flaccid, adynamic, asthenic, nervous, soft, effeminate, feminate, womanly, frail, fragile, shattery, flimsy, unsubstantial, insubstantial, gimcrack, gingerbread, rickety, creaky, creaking, cranky, craichy, drooping, tottering, broken, lame, withered, shattered, shaken, crazy, shaky, palsied, decrepit, languid, poor, infirm, faint, faintish, sickly, dull, slack, evanid, spent, short-winded, effete, weather-beaten, decayed, rotten, worn, seedy, languishing, wasted, washy, laid low, pulled down, the worse for wear, unstrengthened, unsupported, unaided, unassisted, aidless, defenseless, cantilevered (support), on its last legs, weak as a child, weak as a baby, weak as a chicken, weak as a cat, weak as a rat, weak as water, weak as water gruel, weak as gingerbread, weak as milk and water, colorless, non sum qualis eram.

Rarity

N rarity, tenuity, absence of solidity, subtility, subtilty, subtlety, sponginess, compressibility, rarefaction, expansion, dilatation, inflation, subtilization, vaporization, evaporation, diffusion, gassification, ether, rare, subtile, thin, fine, tenuous, compressible, flimsy, slight, light, cavernous, spongy, rarefied, unsubstantial, uncompact, incompressed, rarefiable.

Softness

N softness, pliableness, flexibility, pliancy, pliability, sequacity, malleability, ductility, tractility, extendibility, extensibility, plasticity, inelasticity, flaccidity, laxity, penetrability, clay, wax, butter, dough, pudding, alumina, argil, cushion, pillow, feather bed, down, padding, wadding, foam, mollification, softening, soft, tender, supple, pliant, pliable, flexible, flexile, lithe, lithesome, lissom, limber, plastic, ductile, tractile, tractable, malleable, extensile, sequacious, inelastic, aluminous, remollient, yielding, flabby, limp, flimsy, doughy, spongy, penetrable, foamy, cushiony, flaccid, flocculent, downy, edematous, oedematous, medullary, argillaceous, mellow, soft as butter, soft as down, soft as silk, yielding as wax, tender as chicken.

& Sophistry

N intuition, instinct, association, hunch, gut feeling, presentiment, premonition, rule of thumb, superstition, astrology, faith (supposition), sophistry, paralogy, perversion, casuistry, jesuitry, equivocation, evasion, chicane, chicanery, quiddet, quiddity, mystification, special pleading, speciousness, nonsense, word sense, tongue sense, false reasoning, vicious reasoning, circular reasoning, petitio principii, ignoratio elenchi, post hoc ergo propter hoc, non sequitur, ignotum per ignotius, misjudgment, false teaching, sophism, solecism, paralogism, quibble, quirk, elenchus, elench, fallacy, quodlibet, subterfuge, subtlety, quillet, inconsistency, antilogy, a delusion, a mockery, and a snare, claptrap, cant, mere words, lame and impotent conclusion, meshes of sophistry, cobwebs of sophistry, flaw in an argument, weak point, bad case, overrefinement, hairsplitting, intuitive, instinctive, impulsive, independent of reason, anterior to reason, gratuitous, hazarded, unconnected, unreasonable, illogical, false, unsound, invalid, unwarranted, not following, inconsequent, inconsequential, inconsistent, absonous, absonant, unscientific, untenable, inconclusive, incorrect, fallacious, fallible, groundless, unproved, non sequitur, it does not follow, deceptive, sophistical, jesuitical, illusive, illusory, specious, hollow, plausible, ad captandum, evasive, irrelevant, weak, feeble, poor, flimsy, loose, vague, irrational, nonsensical, foolish, frivolous, pettifogging, quibbling, finespun, overrefined, at the end of one's tether, au bout de son latin, intuitively, by intuition, illogically, non constat, that goes for nothing.