flick
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A short, quick movement.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
flikIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈflɪk
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A short, quick movement, especially a brush, sweep, or flip.
A short stroke
informal
A motion picture, movie, film; (in plural, usually preceded by "the") movie theater, cinema.
fencing
A cut that lands with the point, often involving a whip of the foible of the blade to strike at a concealed target.
The act of pressing a place on a touch screen device.
A diminutive of the female given name Felicity.
verb
Throw or toss with a quick motion
“Flick a piece of paper across the table.”
Touch or hit with a light, quick blow
To move or hit (something) with a short, quick motion.
To pass by rapidly, so as not to be perceived clearly.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A short, quick movement, especially a brush, sweep, or flip.
Used this way, flick is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use flick
- “He gave it a flick with his finger.”noun
- “Flick a piece of paper across the table.”verb
- “The lights flicked on and off.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Move back and forth very rapidly.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A pocketknife with a blade that springs open at the press of a button.
Southwestern United States bird like the yellow-shafted flicker but lacking the red neck.
Western United States bird with red undersurface to wings and tail.
A pornographic movie.
Large flicker of eastern North America with a red neck and yellow undersurface to wings and tail.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: throw or toss with a quick motion
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.