flap

1. 1.

   move in a wavy pattern or with a rising and falling motion

   “The curtains undulated”

   “the waves rolled towards the beach”

   Synonymsrollundulatewave

   Broadermove

   Narrowerluff
2. 2.

   move noisily

   “flags flapped in the strong wind”

   Broaderbeat
3. 3.

   move with a thrashing motion

   “The bird flapped its wings”

   “The eagle beat its wings and soared high into the sky”

   Synonymsbeat

   Broadermove

   Narrowerflutterbateclap
4. 4.

   move with a flapping motion

   “The bird's wings were flapping”

   Synonymsbeat

   Broadermove

   Narrowerflailclap
5. 5.

   make a fuss; be agitated

   Synonymsditherpother

   Broaderfuss
6. 6.

   pronounce with a flap, of alveolar sounds

   Broaderpronounce

1. 1.

   any broad thin and limber covering attached at one edge; hangs loose or projects freely

   “he wrote on the flap of the envelope”

   Broadercovering

   Narrowerbarndoorcoattailcodpieceearflapjaglappocket flaptent-flytongue
2. 2.

   an excited state of agitation

   “he was in a dither”

   “there was a terrible flap about the theft”

   Synonymsditherpotherfusstizzy

   Broaderagitation
3. 3.

   the motion made by flapping up and down

   Synonymsflappingflutterfluttering

   Broaderwave
4. 4.

   a movable piece of tissue partly connected to the body

   Broaderanimal tissue

   Narroweruvulasoft palateprotective foldcusp
5. 5.

   a movable airfoil that is part of an aircraft wing; used to increase lift or drag

   Synonymsflaps

   Broaderairfoil

   Narrowerlanding flap

   Part ofwing

Other forms of flap

plural

flaps·

past tense or participle

flapped

present participle

flapping

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about flap

What does flap mean?

flap means "move in a wavy pattern or with a rising and falling motion". That is the primary sense; the word has 11 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in flap?

flap has 1 syllable: flap. In IPA it is /ˈflæp/.

What is another word for flap?

Close synonyms include roll, undulate, wave, beat, beat. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is flap a common word?

flap is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.