flinty

English

Etymology

From flint +‎ -y.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈflɪnti/
  • Audio (Southern England):(file)
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɪnti

Adjective

flinty (comparative flintier or more flinty, superlative flintiest or most flinty)

  1. Resembling or containing flint; hard like flint.
    • 1973, Patsy Adam Smith, The Barcoo Salute, Adelaide: Rigby, page 2:
      It was late at night and frosty; high above them on the hills the cloppety clop, cloppety clop of a horse's hooves picking their way on the flinty stone track died away in the distance.
  2. (geology) Siliceous (including basanite).
    flinty rock
    flinty slate
  3. (figuratively) Showing a lack of emotion.
    • 2012 August 22, Andy Beckett, “Britannia Unchained: the rise of the new Tory right”, in The Guardian[1]:
      Public opinion has turned flintier in recent years on welfare spending.
    • 2023 August 9, “Robbie Robertson, 80, Dies; Canadian Songwriter Captured American Spirit”, in The New York Times[2]:
      While the texture of his playing was often flinty, his licks and leads were flush with feeling.
  4. (wine) Having a taste characteristic of certain white wines, especially Chablis, supposed to evoke the sensation of flint striking steel.

Derived terms

Translations

Polish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈflin.tɘ/
  • Rhymes: -intɘ
  • Syllabification: flin‧ty

Noun

flinty f

  1. inflection of flinta:
    1. genitive singular
    2. nominative/accusative/vocative plural