flirt
verb
\ ˈflərt
\
\
flirted;
flirting;
flirts
Definition of flirt
(Entry 1 of 2)
1
: to move erratically : flit
butterflies flirting among the flowers
2a
: to behave amorously without serious intent
He flirts with every attractive woman he meets.
b
: to show superficial or casual interest or liking
flirted with the idea
also
: experiment
a novelist flirting with poetry
3
: to come close to reaching or experiencing something
—used with with flirting with disaster
1
: flick
They flirt water at each other's faces.
2
: to move in a jerky manner
a bird flirting its tail
flirt
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Other Words from flirt
Verb
flirtation
\ ˌflər-ˈtā-shən
\
noun
\
noun
flirter
noun
flirty
\ ˈflər-tē
\
adjective
\
adjective
Synonyms for flirt
Synonyms: Verb
coquet (or coquette), dally, frivol, mess around, toy, trifle
Synonyms: Noun
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Examples of flirt in a Sentence
Verb
They were flirting all night. the servers at that restaurant flirt with all the customersNoun
he's just a harmless flirt, so don't take him seriously
Recent Examples on the Web: Verb
The marvel and terror of his dreaming are the central draw for McCraney's debut TV project, which often flirts with elements of magical realism. — Wired, "David Makes Man Invents a Doorway to a New Kind of TV," 28 Aug. 2019 Nationally the unemployment rates for African Americans and Latinos are flirting with record lows. Continued U.S. growth and hiring are pushing up wages, which is helping to propel strong consumer spending. — Chicago Tribune, Twin Cities, "Other voices: The years America went to work," 25 Aug. 2019 Jigsaw wouldn't be the first to court controversy for flirting with the disinformation dark arts. — Andy Greenberg, WIRED, "Alphabet-Owned Jigsaw Bought a Russian Troll Campaign as an Experiment," 12 June 2019 On the show, fellow judge Luke Bryan had to ask her to stop flirting. — Martha Ross, The Mercury News, "Katy Perry has been accused before of being inappropriate with men," 14 Aug. 2019 However, according to their Vogue interview, they’d actually been texting (and flirting) before the party, and Nick ended up heading over to Priyanka’s apartment after the gala to meet her mom. — Kara Nesvig, Teen Vogue, "Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra Jonas Are Returning to Met Gala 2019 as a Married Couple," 29 Apr. 2019 Armstrong argued that the two had flirted with each other in Guam and again at the hotel, and both were too drunk to make good decisions. — Pauline Repard, sandiegouniontribune.com, "Charges dismissed against Navy commander accused of attempted rape," 1 June 2018 Paris Saint-Germain superstar Neymar, Real Madrid's Gareth Bale and Barcelona's Philippe Coutinho have spent the past few weeks flirting with moves away from their respective clubs to rejuvenate their careers. — James Masters, CNN, "Neymar, Bale, Coutinho: The loneliness of the megabuck soccer star," 3 Aug. 2019 In the tongue-in-cheek music video, Grande attacks women flirting with her crush and shoots laser hearts from her breasts—which is totally normal. — Amy Mackelden, Harper's BAZAAR, "Ariana Grande's "Boyfriend" Is About Obsessively Crushing on Someone You're Not With," 2 Aug. 2019Recent Examples on the Web: Noun
In a subsequent scene, when the girls’ school bus is stopped by British soldiers, one of them stares down the barrel of their machine guns — and flirts. — Alice Jones, New York Times, "In ‘Derry Girls,’ the Lighter Side of Life in a Conflict Zone," 31 July 2019 Influenced by time spent living in Lisbon and traveling in Latin America and Europe, the music flirts between peppy, moody intrigue and unnecessarily grating detours. — Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, "The Paradox of Madonna’s Gun-Control Music Video," 3 July 2019 The visiting extraterrestrial flirts with her, praising her beauty, grinning at buddy boy H the whole time. — Darren Franich, EW.com, "Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson reunite for eerily bland Men in Black: International: EW review," 12 June 2019 That’s unfortunate, since the movie flirts, and that is the word, with the idea of a romance between them. — Mark Feeney, BostonGlobe.com, "The men, and some women, are back in black," 12 June 2019 With its relaxed bearing and easy tunefulness, Mr. Tyler’s album flirts with music that is devoid of tension and too pretty—in the 1980s, a less discerning record clerk might have filed this one in the New Age section. — Mark Richardson, WSJ, "‘Goes West’ by William Tyler Review: Music History in Modern Melody," 23 Jan. 2019 Many in Italy, where Fiat and the Agnelli family are loathed and loved, interpreted the GM flirt as a first step to the family abandoning FCA. — Eric Sylvers, WSJ, "Sergio Marchionne’s Death Thrusts Agnelli Heir Into Spotlight," 25 July 2018 As the light fades, the ambient temperature flirts with freezing. — Daniel Otis, Sunset, "Awe-Inspiring Canadian Rockies Camping Adventure," 22 Jan. 2018 Personals, while ostensibly functioning as a way to meet future partners, also works as a support network where people show up simply to encourage people's posts and trade flirts. — Angela Watercutter, WIRED, "Could a Text-Based Dating App Change Selfie-Swiping Culture?," 10 July 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'flirt.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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