1Behaviour that demonstrates a playful sexual attraction to someone.

1. 1.1count noun A short or casual relationship.
   she had had plenty of flirtations—now she had fallen in love

   Example sentencesExamples

   • In the cafe in Vienna, the women reminisce about their flirtations with the men's swimming and water polo teams also making the trip.
   • Much Ado About Nothing portrays the return from war of Don Pedro and his men and the subsequent courtships, flirtations, practical joking and witty conversations.
   • Women and men everywhere have been writing to me about their infidelities, about all kinds of affairs - emotional affairs, physical affairs, flirtations, etc.
   • There were skirmishes, flirtations and drunken fumblings all the way up the east coast, but never the right person or the right time.
   • It has the world's most famous beaches, the world's most desirable bodies, and inspires the world's most outrageous flirtations.
   • What we essentially get, therefore, is a compendium of snapshots; domestic frustrations, meaningful glances, subtle slights, and not-so-subtle flirtations.
   • The friend says, ‘I kind of felt that they just wanted not to hear more about Arnold and his women or his flirtations.’
   • In a story like way, these paintings display the process of love, ‘that moves from initial flirtations, to the ecstasies of physical love consummation, then to the anxieties of jealousy and rejection’.
   • Eventually, Paul and the nanny begin a flirtation that evolves into an affair.
   • It enables virtual flirtations, seductions, affairs - without the responsibilities that attend their actual physical realisation.
   • Beneath the colonnade, although urged on by a small band of string-players, the debonair couples are too involved in their flirtations and gossip to join the leaders of the dance.
   • But these flirtations are removed from actual on-going working relationships.
   • Set in a bar, this is a series of flirtations, tiffs, relationships that make out or don't, full of vigorous, jazzy, skittish dances - though there are sags in interest.
   • At sixteen, Gwenifer was worldly and knowledgeable about all things, especially flirtations and relationships between men and women.
   • This sex-free, friendship marriage will solve all of her problems and give Patrick somewhere safe to go back to after his flirtations and affairs.
   • Passions for golf, parties and flirtations are all he willingly owns up to.
   • A friendship later became a stormy relationship that has survived several breakups, flirtations with other partners and even the occasional fistfight.
   • How many drunken flirtations have you had with complete strangers that you normally would be too nervous/discerning to approach when sober?
   • Anna was in a very good mood and, when I questioned her on it, she told me that she had met Martin, a graduate student whom she had previously met and had a brief innocent flirtation with while she was seeing Bill.
   • For a long time, what does happen seems almost aimless: scenic walks, music, casual flirtations.

   Synonyms

   relationship, affair, romance, liaison, affair of the heart, intrigue, fling, amour, involvement, amorous entanglement, romantic entanglement, entanglement
2. 1.2 A short period of casual experimentation with or interest in a particular idea or activity.
   his brief flirtation with the avant-garde in the 1920s

   Example sentencesExamples

   • In all that time, following an all-too brief flirtation with the big time, they employed a total of 12 managers to try and spark a revival in fortunes.
   • The brief flirtation with shares of a few years ago has been forgotten, except by those unfortunate believers who missed out on the chance to get into the housing market when a basic home was still affordable.
   • After a brief flirtation with the national interest, the aristocracy is back to putting dynasty before duty.
   • In a recent column I even described my brief flirtation with the skin trade.
   • Even the most prudent club in the division, found the European experience far from rewarding, as bonus payments to players cost more than was recouped from their brief flirtation with the cup.
   • He is old enough to have felt the disillusion of lost causes such as the Spanish Civil War and the left's brief flirtation with Communism.
   • After a brief flirtation with the idea of hiring a small crane to transport his books, he hauled both them and himself all the way up to dorm 96.
   • Worse, the way they are playing, it looks as though a flirtation with relegation may well be turning into a long-term relationship.
   • I am at a point where I have to decide if I want to do something serious with technology or continue to waste my time with the casual flirtation.
   • Network Ten's brief flirtation with wrestling matches on Saturday night prime time may have been short lived, but despite this, WWE games sell particularly well in Australia.
   • My only flirtation with blonde has been a sprinkling of highlights, unless you count a one night stand with a mane of white curls which purported to be a Charlie's Angels wig but looked more like one of Dolly Parton's rejects.
   • The next morning after a brief flirtation with the idea of going for a swim, we set ourselves free from shore again and continued up the river.
   • The thick-cut slices of duck breast were described as char-grilled, but it can only have been the most fleeting flirtation with the grill.
   • Barring that brief flirtation with laxness during the second half, Hibs were efficiency personified.
   • A ravishing collage, although it was not an ideal illustration of his brief flirtation with Surrealist practice.
   • Heartbreaking though it was to prove my parents right yet again in their decision not to buy me my own skates as my flirtation with the ice would be a passing affair, I turned my attention to a nice dry, warm, indoor sport - basketball.
   • At least, though, I learnt my lesson during my brief flirtation with this dangerous game.
   • But her flirtation with hats was far from over and several years later a friend introduced her to the then Laura Ashley hat designer Jane Smith, who taught her how to make feather head pieces.
   • I spent my lunch hour talking to co-workers about my brief flirtation with joining a convent and as a result, got absolutely no studying done today.
   • It was just one of a number of female celebrity flirtations with nudity that captivated a global audience last year and confirmed an enduring fact of life on the web.