flashyadj.
/ˈflaʃi/, U.S. /ˈflæʃi/ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > liquid > liquid flow > action or process of splashing > [adjective] > splashing or dashing
flashy1582
swashing1620
plashing1813
splashing1837
spluttering1846
slushing1863
sousing1891
sloshing1924
1582 R. Stanyhurst tr. Virgil First Foure Bookes Æneis ii. 36 Not so great a ruffling the riuer strong flasshye reteyneth.
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Gascheux, flashie, plashie, washie, dashing, bespatling.
2. † a. Over-moist, watery, frothy. † b. Insipid, tasteless, vapid.† c. figurative. Of persons and immaterial things: Trifling, destitute of solidity or purpose; void of meaning, trashy. Obsolete.
Thesaurus »
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > taste and flavour > insipidity > [adjective]
wallowc897
smatchless?c1225
unsavoury?c1225
fresha1398
savourlessa1398
wearish1398
wershed1398
fond?c1430
unsavoured1435
palled1440
mildc1450
walsh1513
wallowish1548
dead1552
waterish1566
cold1585
flatten1594
seasonless1595
wersha1599
blown1600
flash1601
fatuous1608
tasteless1611
flat1617
insipid1620
ingustable1623
flashy1625
flatted1626
saltless1633
gustless1636
remiss1655
rheumatical1655
untasteable1656
vapid1656
exolete1657
distasted1662
vappous1673
insulse1676
toothless1679
mawkisha1697
intastable1701
waugh1703
impoignant1733
flavourless1736
instimulating1740
deadish1742
mawky1755
brineless1791
wishy-washy1791
keestless1802
shilpit1814
wish-washy1814
sapidless1821
silent1826
slushy1839
bland1878
spendsavour1879
wish-wash1896
dolled1917
spiceless1980
1625 F. Bacon Ess. (new ed.) 293 Distilled Bookes, are like common distilled Waters, Flashy Things.
1655 W. Gouge & T. Gouge Learned Comm. Hebrewes (xiii. 1) iv. 9 Love is as salt, which infuseth a savoury and wholesom taste into such things as would otherwise be fresh and Flashy.
1658 J. Evelyn tr. N. de Bonnefons French Gardiner 198 The other [turnips] being soft, flashy, and insipid.
1669 J. Worlidge Systema Agriculturæ (1681) 41 The taste of them is more sweet and flashy than Groats made of common Oats.
1702 W. J. tr. C. de Bruyn Voy. Levant xxi. 94 They [artichokes] eat not so flashy as when they are Boyled after our Way.
1743 W. Ellis Suppl. to London & Country Brewer (ed. 2) 329 It is not the first flashy, frothy Yeast.
1772 Ann. Reg. 1771 107/1 The young grass which springs in consequence of a flood, is of so flashy a nature that it occasions this common complaint.
1847 J. O. Halliwell Dict. Archaic & Provinc. Words I Flashy..loose, unstable, as unsound grass; insipid.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [adjective] > insubstantial > showy or fanciful but insubstantial
frivol1492
fustian1523
triflinga1538
tirlery1546
trumpery1576
mockado1577
skipjack1597
flashy1598
trifle1607
fripperya1625
bagatelle1637
fingle-fangled1651
tawdry1696
sauntering1726
gimcrack1751
folderol1820
tin1886
shicec1890
cotton candy1951
candyfloss1957
1598 Bp. J. Hall Virgidemiarum: 3 Last Bks. Postscr. 104 So can it yeld nothing but a flashy and loose conceyt to the iudgement.
1638 J. Milton Lycidas in Obsequies 23 in Justa Edouardo King Their lean and flashie songs.
1647 J. Trapp Comm. Epist. & Rev. 146 Their mirth is frothy and flashy, such as smooths the brow, but fils not the brest.
1679 T. Shadwell True Widow iii. 31 They are a company of flashy, frothy Fellows.
1745 J. Mason Treat. Self-knowl. iii. vi. 238 To read Froth and Trifles all our Life, is the Way always to retain a flashy and juvenile Turn.
3.
a. Giving off flashes, shining by flashes; glittering, sparkling, brilliant. literal and figurative. Also, lasting only for a flash, transitory, momentary.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > light > light emitted in particular manner > [adjective] > flashing
flaming?a1400
flashing1548
brandishing1581
lamping1590
lightening1592
flashy1609
fulgid1610
bickering1667
coruscating1705
outflaming1856
aglance1880
flashful1890
the world > time > duration > shortness or brevity in time > swift movement of time > [adjective]
slidinga900
scrithingOE
henwardOE
swifta1225
short livya1325
passing1340
flittingc1374
shadowy1374
temporalc1384
speedfula1400
transitory?c1400
brittlea1425
unabidingc1430
frail?c1450
indurablec1450
scrithel?c1475
caduke1483
transitorious1492
passanta1500
perishinga1500
caducea1513
fugitive?1518
caducal?1548
quick1548
delible1549
flittering1549
undurable?1555
shadowish1561
fleeting1563
vading1566
flightful1571
wanzing1571
transitive1575
slipping1581
diary1583
unlasting1585
never-lasting1588
flit1590
post-like1594
running1598
short-lived1598
short-winded1598
transient1599
unpermanent1607
flashy1609
of a day1612
passable1613
dureless1614
urgenta1616
waxena1616
decayable1617
horary1620
evanid1626
fugitable1628
short-dated1632
fugacious1635
ephemerala1639
impermanent1653
fungous1655
volatile1655
ephemerousa1660
unimmortal1667
timesome1674
while-being1674
of passage1680
journal1685
ephemeron1714
admovent1727
evanescent1728
meteorous1750
deciduous1763
preterient1786
ephemeridal1795
meteorica1802
meteor1803
ephemerean1804
ephemerid1804
evanescing1805
fleeted1810
fleet1812
unenduring1814
unremaining1817
unimmortalized1839
impersistent1849
flighty1850
uneternal1862
caducous1863
diurnal1866
horarious1866
brisk1879
evasive1881
picaresque1959
1609 P. Holland tr. Ammianus Marcellinus Rom. Hist. xxiii. xii. 239 Flashie lightenings.
1630 W. Prynne God no Impostor (rev. ed.) 13 Reprobates haue oft times many sodaine, transitory, and flashy ioyes.
1682 ‘T. Rationalis’ New News from Bedlam 28 My Gallick Tongue, and my rare flashy Wit, Shall make the Whigs and all the Tories split Themselves with laughing.
a1711 T. Ken Hymnotheo in Wks. (1721) III. 119 I soon felt my flashy Goodness fade.
1741 S. Richardson Pamela III. xxxv. 343 So flashy and so transient a Glare.
1780 F. Burney Jrnl. Apr. in Early Jrnls. & Lett. (2003) IV. 33 She was very flashy, & talked away all the Evening.
1784 C. Burney Let. 16 Jan. in F. Burney Early Diary (1889) II. 317 I had a good flashey evening.
1819 H. Busk Vestriad iv. 35 One ruby glitter'd like the flashy Mars.
1826 W. Scott Jrnl. 29 Mar. (1939) 144 A fine, flashy, disagreeable day; snow-clouds sweeping past among sunshine.
1840 T. B. Macaulay Life & Lett. (1883) II. 81 I will try to make as interesting an article, though I fear not so flashy, as that on Clive.
1884 Manch. Examiner 11 Sept. 5/1 He looks beyond the momentary triumphs of a flashy and adventurous policy.
b. In depreciative sense, chiefly of speech, a speaker, or writer: Superficially bright; brilliant, but shallow; cheaply attractive.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > ornateness > [adjective] > showy or gaudy
flashya1690
tawdry1696
long-nebbed1818
a1690 G. Fox Jrnl. I. 108 An high Notionist, and a flashy Man.
1740 C. Cibber Apol. Life C. Cibber v. 77 The false, flashy Pretender to Wit.
1823 T. De Quincey Lett. Young Man in London Mag. July 89/2 The second-hand report of a flashy rhetorician.
1835 R. Browning Paracelsus iv. 129 Patient merit Obscured awhile by flashy tricks.
1883 Cent. Mag. 26 295/1 As stories, these were cheap and flashy.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > excitement > excitability of temperament > impetuosity > [adjective]
brothc1175
impetuous1398
headya1425
brainish1530
hot-brained1556
hot-headed1603
flashy1632
hot-reined1635
scapperboiling1673
warm1749
étourdi1750
torrentuous1840
impulsive1847
unpoised1872
torrential1877
Latin1914
1632 J. Vicars tr. Virgil XII Aeneids xi. 366 The ladie..With light-heel'd flashy haste the horse o'retook.
?1764 J. Bush Hibernia Curiosa 22 By that time he has discharged his five or six bottles, he will get a little flashy, perhaps.
1781 P. Beckford Thoughts on Hunting xix. 244 I have seen hounds so flashy, that they would break away from the huntsman as soon as they saw a cover.
5. Showy, fine-looking; gaudy, glaring.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > bad taste > flashiness or gaudiness > [adjective]
fine1526
garish1545
flaunting1567
gawish1567
taffety1597
showful1607
flaming1609
flaring1610
over-brave1620
showish1675
rantingc1685
gaudy1709
showy1712
tinselled1738
kicky1790
flaunty1796
flashy1801
slangish1813
florid1815
tigerish1831
flash1836
flary1841
loud1850
flashy-looking1852
splurgy1852
cheesy1858
flagrant1858
jingo1859
cheesy1863
orchidaceous1864
flamboyant1879
vociferous1883
voyant1906
grandstanding1908
floozy1911
ritzy1919
like a (or the) dog's dinner1927
plush horse1936
kitsch1953
zazzy1961
pizzazz1969
the mind > emotion > pride > ostentation > [adjective]
rankOE
peacockly?a1425
ruffling1531
garish1545
peacockish1551
peacock-like1576
ostentatious1590
fastuous?1591
flaring1593
flantitanting1596
ostentive1599
ostentative1601
showful1607
flourishable1614
flourishing1616
flaunting1624
ostentous1624
ostentatory1638
swasha1640
fanfaron1670
paradeful1748
ostensible1782
epideictic1790
fandangous1797
flashy1801
affiché1818
show-off1818
splashing1820
flaunty1825
splash-and-dash1830
pretentious1832
flash1836
splashy1836
pretenceful1841
swanky1842
peacocky1844
fantysheeny1847
splurgy1852
cheesy1858
pretensivea1868
duchessy1870
swagger1879
lavish1882
splurging1884
show-offy1890
razzmatazz1900
show-offish1903
whoop-de-do1904
Ritz1908
split-arse1917
swanking1918
ritzy1919
fantoosh1920
knock-me-down1922
showboating1936
showboat1939
hellzapoppin'1945
zazzy1961
glitzy1966
sploshy1966
zhuzhy1968
noncy1989
bling1999
1801 ‘Gabrielli’ Mysterious Husband III. 255 They then got into their carriage, a mighty flashy one, to my mind.
1805 Duke of Wellington Dispatches (1835) II. 536 The equipment which I propose..although not so flashy, would be more useful.
1829 A. Cunningham Lives Brit. Painters I. 31 People naturally fond of flashy colours.
1856 C. J. Lever Martins of Cro' Martin 315 The splendour of a very flashy silk waistcoat.
6. Of persons: Given to show, fond of cutting a dash, ‘swellish’; also, vain and conceited.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > pride > self-esteem > vanity > [adjective]
self-liking1580
self-loved1590
self-admiring1592
self-loving1593
self-liked1599
glass-gazing1608
coxcombly1610
self-admired1621
coxcombical1649
self-idolizing1649
vain1692
flashy1693
vaunty1724
coxcombic1730
self-idolized1766
narcissine1805
foofaraw1848
vanitous1900
narcissistic1915
narcistic1918
dicty1920
narcissist1934
the mind > emotion > pride > ostentation > [adjective] > specifically of persons
jettingc1450
ruffling1543
strutting1577
ostentatious1658
flashy1693
parading1741
show-away1776
flash1785
slangy1850
peacocking1873
figuresome1884
fluttersome1895
posey1933
1693 W. Congreve Old Batchelour i. i. 6 Young, termagant flashy sinners.
a1704 T. Brown Pleasant Epist. in Wks. (1707) I. ii. 2 Those flashy Fellows, your Covent-garden Poets.
1787 G. Colman Inkle & Yarico ii. i. 34 A young flashy Englishman will sometimes carry a whole fortune on his back.
1850 N. Hawthorne Jrnl. 7 May in Amer. Notebks. (1972) viii. 494 Veteran topers, flashy young men, visitors from the country.
Compounds
flashy-looking adj.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > bad taste > flashiness or gaudiness > [adjective]
fine1526
garish1545
flaunting1567
gawish1567
taffety1597
showful1607
flaming1609
flaring1610
over-brave1620
showish1675
rantingc1685
gaudy1709
showy1712
tinselled1738
kicky1790
flaunty1796
flashy1801
slangish1813
florid1815
tigerish1831
flash1836
flary1841
loud1850
flashy-looking1852
splurgy1852
cheesy1858
flagrant1858
jingo1859
cheesy1863
orchidaceous1864
flamboyant1879
vociferous1883
voyant1906
grandstanding1908
floozy1911
ritzy1919
like a (or the) dog's dinner1927
plush horse1936
kitsch1953
zazzy1961
pizzazz1969
1852 G. B. Earp Gold Colonies Austral. 72 That flashy-looking man in a tandem was transported for bank robbery.
1880 M. Lonsdale Sister Dora viii. 209 A flashy-looking man, with conspicuous rings and watch-chain.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1896; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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adj.1582