English dictionary — definitions & meanings

fleshmonger

noun

One who deals in flesh; hence, a pimp, procurer, or pander.

fleshspace

noun

Meatspace, the physical world.

fleshy

adj

Having a lot of soft body tissue; plump or fat.

fletch

noun

The feather-like vane near the back of an arrow that keeps it flying straight.

fletcher

noun

Someone whose trade is making arrows, especially fitting them with feathers (fletching).

fleur

noun

Short for fleur-de-lis, the stylised lily symbol used in heraldry.

Fleury

name

A French surname and given name.

flew

verb

Past tense of fly: moved through the air.

flex

verb

To bend a joint or tighten a muscle, often to show strength.

flexibility

noun

The physical ability to bend or stretch easily without damage.

flexible

adj

Able to bend easily without breaking.

flexile

adj

Flexible; capable of being repeatedly flexed without breaking.

flexing

noun

The act of bending a joint or tightening a muscle.

flexure

noun

The act of bending or flexing; flexion.

flibbertigibbet

noun

An offbeat, skittish person; especially said of a young woman.

flibustier

noun

A French buccaneer; a French pirate in the Americas.

flick

noun

A quick, light movement, often with the fingers or wrist.

flicker

verb

To shine or burn unsteadily, with light that wavers.

flickering

adj

Shining unsteadily or varying rapidly in brightness.

flicking

noun

The act of moving something with a quick, light motion.

flies

noun

In a theatre, the open space above the stage used for hanging scenery, lighting, and rigging out of the audience's sight.

flight

noun

A journey made by an aircraft, especially a scheduled trip between two places.

flightiness

noun

The quality of being flighty.

flightless

adj

Unable to fly, especially describing a species or individual bird.

flightling

noun

One who flees or takes flight; an escapee, fugitive, or refugee.

flighty

adj

Prone to unpredictable, impulsive, or silly behavior; lacking seriousness or commitment.

flimsy

adj

Easily broken or damaged; not sturdy.

flinch

verb

To make a sudden, involuntary movement away from something painful, frightening, or unpleasant.

flinching

noun

A sudden, involuntary jerk of the body away from something.

fling

verb

To throw something suddenly and with force.

flinging

noun

The act of throwing something with force.

flinn

name

An unincorporated community in Monroe County, Mississippi, United States.

flint

noun

A hard, fine-grained rock that produces sparks when struck against steel.

flintstone

noun

A stone or pebble made of flint, a hard rock historically used to strike sparks or shape tools.

flip

verb

To turn something over quickly, often with a snapping motion.

flippant

adj

Showing a casual disrespect or lack of seriousness about something that deserves more care.

flipper

noun

A wide, flat limb used for swimming, found on animals such as whales, seals, and turtles.

Flippin

adj

An informal, mild substitute for a stronger swear word, used for emphasis.

flipping

adv

A mild intensifier used in place of a stronger swear word (informal, chiefly British).

flirt

verb

To behave in a playful, teasing way toward someone to show romantic or sexual interest.

flirtation

noun

Playful, teasing behavior meant to show romantic interest.

flirtatious

adjective

Behaving in a playful, teasing way that suggests romantic or sexual interest.

flirting

noun

Playful, teasing behaviour that signals romantic or sexual interest.

flirty

adjective

Inclined to flirt, or having a playful, teasing manner that suggests attraction.

flisk

noun

A caper; a spring; a whim.

flit

verb

To move quickly and lightly from one place to another.

flite

noun

a quarrel, dispute, wrangling.

flitter

verb

To scatter in pieces.

flitting

adjective

Lasting only a short time; brief and quickly passing.

flizz

adj

Inane, meaningless in demeanour.

Flo

name

A feminine given name, a short form of Florence or Flora.

float

verb

To rest or stay on the surface of a liquid instead of sinking.

floater

noun

A person who floats.

floating

adjective

Resting on top of a liquid or drifting through the air rather than sinking or falling.

flock

noun

A group of birds, sheep, or other animals gathered or travelling together.

flocked

adjective

Covered with a soft, velvety texture of fine fibres, often used to describe wallpaper or fabric.

flocking

noun

The process of coating a surface with fine fibres to give it a soft, textured finish.

flog

verb

To whip or beat someone as a punishment.

flogger

noun

One who flogs.

flogging

noun

A punishment involving repeated whipping or beating.

flood

noun

An overflow of water that covers land that is normally dry.

flooded

adjective

Covered or filled with water after a flood.

floodgate

noun

An adjustable gate or valve used to control the flow of water through a sluice.

flooding

noun

The occurrence of a flood, or water overflowing onto normally dry land.

floodlight

noun

A projector of a bright beam of light for use in theatres and studios; a flood

floodplain

noun

A low-lying plain adjacent to a river subject to flooding during periods of high rainfall or at high tide.

floor

noun

The surface on which you walk inside a room or building.

floorboard

noun

One of the long wooden boards that make up a floor.

floored

adjective

Completely shocked or amazed.

flooring

noun

Material used to cover and finish a floor, or the floor itself.

floorshow

noun

A set of performances held in a nightclub, restaurant or similar during the course of an evening.

floozie

noun

A vulgar or sexually promiscuous woman; a hussy or slattern.

flop

verb

To fall or drop down heavily and loosely.

flophouse

noun

A very cheap, run-down hotel or boarding house, usually with shared sleeping quarters.

flopping

noun

The action of falling or dropping heavily and loosely.

floppy

adjective

Soft and loose, tending to hang or flop rather than stay rigid.

FLOPS

noun

A measure of computing speed: the number of floating-point operations a computer can perform per second.

flor

noun

A layer of yeast that forms on top of certain wines during fermentation, deliberately encouraged when making sherry.

flora

noun

The plants of a particular region or time period, considered as a group.

floral

adjective

Relating to or decorated with flowers.

Florence

name

A city and comune, the capital of the Metropolitan City of Florence and the region of Tuscany, Italy.

florentine

adjective

Of or relating to the Italian city of Florence.

Flores

name

A Spanish and Portuguese surname meaning "flowers."

florescence

noun

The time, or the condition, of budding or flowering.

floresville

name

A city, the county seat of Wilson County, Texas, United States.

Florian

name

A masculine given name of Latin origin, meaning "flowering" or "blooming."

florid

adj

Having a rosy or pale red colour; ruddy.

florilegium

noun

A collection of flowers.

florin

noun

Any of several gold coins once produced in Florence, Italy; model for the other currencies.

Floris

name

A Dutch and Flemish masculine given name, a form of Florence or Florian.

florist

noun

A person who sells or arranges flowers, or a shop that does so.

floss

noun

A thin thread used to clean between the teeth.

Flossie

noun

Dated, vulgar slang for a promiscuous woman or sex worker.

flossing

noun

The act of cleaning between the teeth with dental floss.

flossy

adj

Resembling floss.

flotilla

noun

A small fleet of warships (usually of the same class), or a fleet of small ships.

flotsam

noun

Wreckage or debris found floating on water, especially from a shipwreck.

flounder

verb

To struggle clumsily or act confused, especially when trying to make progress.

floundering

noun

The act of struggling clumsily or being confused.

flounderish

adj

that flounders; that moves with awkward struggles

flour

noun

A fine powder made by grinding grain, especially wheat, used mainly for baking.

flourish

verb

To grow, develop, or succeed vigorously.

flourished

adj

Decorated with ornamental flourishes.

flourishing

adj

Growing, thriving, or doing very well.

flout

verb

To express contempt for (laws, rules, etc.) by word or action.

flow

noun

The continuous, smooth movement of a liquid, gas, or stream of things.

flower

noun

The colorful blooming part of a plant, often used for decoration or given as a gift.

flowered

adj

Decorated with a floral pattern.

flowering

noun

The period when a plant is in bloom.

flowerpot

noun

A container, usually made of clay or plastic, filled with soil for growing a plant.

flowery

adj

Decorated with or covered in flowers.

flowing

adj

Moving smoothly and continuously, like a liquid.

flown

adj

The past participle of "fly," used to describe travel through the air or an aircraft that has already departed.

Floyd

name

A masculine given name and surname, an Anglicized form of the Welsh "Lloyd," meaning "gray."

flu

noun

A common contagious viral illness causing fever, aches, and fatigue; short for influenza.

flub

noun

An error; a mistake in the performance of an action.

fluctuate

verb

To rise and fall irregularly in number, amount or level.

fluctuating

adj

Rising and falling irregularly; unstable.

fluctuation

noun

An irregular rise and fall, especially in level, amount, or value.

flue

noun

A pipe or duct that carries smoke or hot gases away from a fire, furnace, or boiler.

fluency

noun

The quality of smoothness of flow.

fluent

adj

Able to speak or write a language accurately, smoothly, and with ease.

fluently

adv

In a smooth, confident, effortless manner, especially when speaking a language.

fluff

noun

Light, soft, fuzzy material such as fur, feathers, or lint.

fluffy

adj

Light, soft, and airy in texture.

fluid

noun

A substance, such as a liquid or gas, that flows and takes the shape of its container.

fluidic

adj

Of or pertaining to a fluid.

fluidity

noun

The state of being fluid rather than viscous

fluidly

adv

In a fluid manner; smoothly.

fluidness

noun

The quality of being fluid.

fluke

noun

A lucky, accidental success unlikely to happen again.

flukey

adj

Unstable, prone to rapid and unpredictable changes.

flume

noun

A ravine or gorge, usually one with water running through.

fluminous

adj

flowing, fluent (of rivers)

flummery

noun

A custard; any of several bland, gelatinous foodstuffs, usually made from stewed fruit and thickened with oatmeal, cornstarch or flour.

flummox

verb

To confuse; to fluster; to flabbergast.

flummoxed

adj

Confused, perplexed or flustered.

flump

intj

A sound of something moving or falling heavily, or with a dull sound.

flunk

verb

To fail a class, test, or course.

flunkey

noun

An underling; a liveried servant or a footman; servant, retainer – a person working in the service of another (especially in the household).

flunky

noun

A person who always agrees with their superior or employer.

fluorescent

adj

Producing bright light when exposed to ultraviolet or electrical energy, as in certain lamps.

fluoride

noun

A chemical compound containing fluorine, commonly added to water or toothpaste to help prevent tooth decay.

fluorophore

noun

A molecule or functional group which is capable of fluorescence.

fluoxetine

noun

A synthetic compound which inhibits the uptake of serotonin in the brain and is taken to treat depression.

flurry

noun

A brief, light snowfall.

flush

verb

To clean by flooding with water, especially a toilet.

flushed

adj

Red in the face from embarrassment, heat, or exertion.

flushing

noun

The act of cleaning something by flooding it with water.

fluster

verb

To throw (someone) into a state of confusion or panic; to befuddle, to confuse.