FLIGHTY (flightier, flightiest)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: flightier    , flightiest   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does flighty mean? 

• FLIGHTY (adjective)
  The adjective FLIGHTY has 2 senses:

1. guided by whim and fancy

2. unpredictably excitable (especially of horses)

  Familiarity information: FLIGHTY used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FLIGHTY (adjective)

Comparative: flightier   
Superlative: flightiest   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Guided by whim and fancy

Synonyms:

flighty; flyaway; head-in-the-clouds; scatterbrained

Context example:

flighty young girls

Similar:

frivolous (not serious in content or attitude or behavior)

Derivation:

flightiness (the trait of acting unpredictably and more from whim or caprice than from reason or judgment)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Unpredictably excitable (especially of horses)

Synonyms:

flighty; nervous; skittish; spooky

Similar:

excitable (easily excited)

 Context examples 

How could the presence of these articles in my house affect either the honour, the sanity, or the life of my flighty colleague?

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The fully-grown leghorn chicken averages 3-6 pounds in weight and is characterized by being noisy, flighty, and easily excited.

(Leghorn Chicken, NCI Thesaurus)

At last I began to believe, that, in the flighty and unsettled state of his mind, he had either forgotten his intention or abandoned it.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

He never particularly addressed me, and it is my belief he had as good as forgotten his confidences; but his temper was more flighty, and allowing for his bodily weakness, more violent than ever.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)