flitter
US/ˈflɪtɚ/
flitter verb: to scatter in pieces. Also the pronunciation spelling of fritter.
Verb
flitter (third-person singular simple present flitters, present participle flittering, simple past and past participle flittered)
- To scatter in pieces.
- To move about rapidly and nimbly.
- To move quickly from one condition or location to another.
- How she remembered the gray-feathered titmouse flittering about as she stared unbelievingly at the grave of her sister and clung to Reese, then five years old.2003, Rudy Gray, D'n'd, iUniverse, page 41
- There were two bugs flittering on either side of her.2006, Katherine Macinnis, Kelsar, Virtualbookworm.com Publishing, page 60
- To flutter or quiver.
Noun
flitter (plural flitters)
- A fluttering movement
- A waxing moon riding high in the sky and a flitter of bats about the rooftops, dipping and swerving as they gathered up the gnats that danced there in ephemeral clouds.2014, Peter Ashby, The Name of Seven
- A rag; a tatter; a small piece or fragment.
- Without a flitter of a blanket o'er me1832, Paddy Kelly's Budget
- But to return to where we left her, I see her still, propped up in a kind of stupor against one of the walls in which this wretched edifice abounds, her long grey greasy hair framing in its cowl of scrofulous mats a face where pallor, languor, hunger, acne, recent dirt, immemorial chagrin and...1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, [Paris]: Olympia Press, →OCLC
- Any of various hesperiid butterflies of the genus Hyarotis.
- A small aircraft or spacecraft.
- Then all three went out to the flitter. A tiny speedster, really; a torpedo bearing stubby wings and the ludicrous tail-surfaces, the multifarious driving-, braking-, side-, top-, and under-jets so characteristic of the tricky, cranky, but ultra-maneuverable breed.1941 July, Edward Elmer Smith, “The Vortex Blaster”, in Comet Stories, volume 1, number 5, page 10
- Small flitters were powered and made ready, and everything that carried manual controls was inspected and cleared for action.1944 March, George Oliver Smith, “Circle of Confusion”, in Astounding Science Fiction, volume 33, number 1, page 54
- A small perceptible feeling
- Hannah couldn't stop a flitter of panic at the thought.2014, Love Inspired September 2014
- He sensed Wheeler tensing, the slightest of tremors in the stillness of the ruined chapel, a flitter of irritation.2016, Mark Douglas-Home, The Malice of Waves
Also used as
flitter is also the pronunciation spelling of fritter.
Examples of flitter in a sentence
- The back of the group flittered in and out of my view, pulling me forward with only dim hopes of success.2014, Daniel Freeman, “The Conquest”, in College Essays That Made a Difference, 6th edition, Penguin Random House, page 129:
- Flitters of perforated starch entwine an ear.1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, [Paris]: Olympia Press, →OCLC:
- The small flitters carried by the Queen for exploration work held with comfort a two-man crew—with crowding, three.1955, Alice Mary Norton (as Andrew North), Sargasso of Space, page 53:
- The flitter tumbled from the shimmering throat of the wormhole transit route from Port Sol to Earthport.1994, Stephen Baxter, Ring, →ISBN, page 43:
Forms of flitter
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | flitters |
| present participle | flittering |
| past participle | flittered |
| past | flittered |
| Noun | |
| plural | flitters |
Origin of flitter
From Middle English flytteren, frequentative form of flitten, flytten, flütten, possibly from Old Norse flytja (“to carry about, convey”), equivalent to flit + -er (frequentative suffix).
From flit + -er.
Words formed from flitter
- flat as a flitter
- flitter down
- flittermouse
- flittery
Words that rhyme with flitter
18 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about flitter
- What does flitter mean?
- Flitter means to scatter in pieces.
- How do you use flitter in a sentence?
- The back of the group flittered in and out of my view, pulling me forward with only dim hopes of success.
- What part of speech is flitter?
- Flitter can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce flitter?
- Flitter is pronounced /ˈflɪtɚ/ (US).
- What is the past tense of flitter?
- The past tense of flitter is flittered.
Words near flitter in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: flitter (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:
Cite this entry: “flitter.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/flitter. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.