flipper
UK/ˈflɪpə/US/ˈflɪpɚ/
flipper noun: in marine mammals such as whales (or other secondarily aquatic animals such as sea turtles), a wide, flat limb adapted for swimming.
Noun
flipper (plural flippers)
- In marine mammals such as whales (or other secondarily aquatic animals such as sea turtles), a wide, flat limb adapted for swimming.
- A wide, flat, paddle-like rubber covering for the foot, used in swimming.
- Synonyms:
- swim fin
- A flat lever in a pinball machine, triggered by the player to strike the ball and keep it in play.
- Early pinball machines demanded that a player shake the entire table in an effort to guide the ball through the obstacles (pins—hence the name). Later iterations had mechanical flippers like today's, but more of them—six, which were distributed three on each side up and down the body of the machine.2012 February 24, Rebecca J. Rosen, “The Glory of the Pinball Machine”, in The Atlantic
- A small flat used to support a larger one.
- The flipper is designed to give support by standing at a 90-degree angle to the flat. It probably gets its name from its appearance: cut out like a piece of profile scenery, it resembles the flipper of a marine animal, […]1998, Martin Harrison, The Language of Theatre, page 104
- When standing alone, a flat may have a small extension, a FLIPPER, for added strength.2013, Jonathan Law, The Methuen Drama Dictionary of the Theatre
- A type of ball bowled by a leg spin bowler, which spins backwards and skids off the pitch with a low bounce.
- Television remote control, clicker.
- The hand.
- Give me your flipper, old man, and tell me if I can be of any service to you. I'll do what you want at all hazards.1888, Hélène E A. Gingold, Denyse, page 222
- Synonyms:
- flapper
- A kind of false tooth, usually temporary.
- Dr. Woo attempts to distinguish Blakeslee by pointing out that “one can fondle a breast without having anything to do with dentistry, but one cannot take molds, fabricate and insert flippers into another person's mouth without practicing dentistry."2005, Washington Appellate Reports, volume 128
- A kitchen spatula.
- Remember the mornings when you help me fix eggs and pancakes for breakfast. You always had to use the “flipper” to turn the pancakes and eggs.2009, Amy J. Yowell, The Silent Cry, page 161
- Someone who flips, in the sense of buying a house or other asset and selling it quickly for profit.
- Two notable examples of Zombie Formalism would be the electroplated silver monochromes of Jacob Kassay (b. 1984) and the “Rain Paintings” of Lucien Smith (b. 1989), both recent favorites of the art flippers.2014 April 3, Walter Robinson, “Flipping and the Rise of Zombie Formalism”, in Artspace, archived from the original on 02 Oct 2015
- Someone who flips in any other sense, for example throwing a coin.
Verb
flipper (third-person singular simple present flippers, present participle flippering, simple past and past participle flippered)
- To lift one or both flippers out of the water and slap the surface of the water.
Proper noun capitalized: Flipper
Flipper
- A common name for aquatic animals which have flippers, such as dolphins and seals.
flipper meaning in Tamil, Kannada, Thai and Vietnamese
flipper in Tamil
- பொதி உணவுகள் கெடுநிலை
flipper in Kannada
- ತೊಳೆಗಾಲು
flipper in Thai
- paddle-like rubber covering for the foot
- ตีนกบ dtiin-gòp
flipper in Vietnamese
- marine mammal's wide limb for swimming
- vây
- paddle-like rubber covering for the foot
- chân vịt
Examples of flipper in a sentence
- Flippers and hands are homologous structures.
- The flippers also have an adjustment menu to alter the strength.
- Happy Days had nine gobble holes, but no outlanes or gap between the flippers.
Synonyms of flipper
Forms of flipper
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | flippers |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | flippers |
| present participle | flippering |
| past participle | flippered |
| past | flippered |
Origin of flipper
From flip + -er. Compare Saterland Frisian Flappert (“flipper, wing”).
Words formed from flipper
Phrases with flipper
Words that rhyme with flipper
5 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about flipper
- What does flipper mean?
- Flipper means in marine mammals such as whales (or other secondarily aquatic animals such as sea turtles), a wide, flat limb adapted for swimming.
- What is flipper in Tamil?
- Flipper in Tamil is பொதி உணவுகள் கெடுநிலை. See Flipper meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is flipper?
- Flipper can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce flipper?
- Flipper is pronounced /ˈflɪpə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of flipper?
- The plural of flipper is flippers.
Words near flipper in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: flipper (page history and authors); Flipper (page history and authors); flipper (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); flipper (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-flipper.ogg.
Cite this entry: “flipper.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/flipper. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.