- flit
- flit vb Flit, flutter, flitter, flicker, hover suggest the movements of a bird or other flying or floating thing and mean to move in a manner like or reminiscent of such movementsFlit implies a light and swift passing from place to place or point to point{
birds flitted from tree to tree
}{the talk flitting from one subject to another and never dropping so long as the meal lasts— Arnold
}{seemed to pass the whole of his life flitting in and out of bedrooms— Bennett
}{Clare Potter, flushed and gallantly gay, flitting about from person to person— Rose Macaulay
}Flutter implies the movement of a bird rapidly beating its wings or the restless flitting of a moth about a light; it especially implies unsteadiness and agitation{till she felt the heart within her fall and flutter tremulously— Tennyson
}{gay moods and mysterious, moth-like meditations hover in my imagination . . . but always the rarest, those freaked with azure and the deepest crimson, flutter away beyond my reach— L. P. Smith
}{a little dark shadow fluttered from the wall across the floor— Cat her
}{her eyes . . . timidly fluttering over the depths of his— Meredith
}Flitter implies the lightness and quickness of movement suggested by flit but usually also suggests the uneasiness or uncertainty connoted by flutter{the poor silly flittering woman
}{children flittering here and there
}{when he was pressed and irritated to condemn the Cardinal, his eyes flittered uncomfortably— Hackett
}{flared and flittered around them like light gone mad— Rolvaag
}Flicker implies a light fluttering or a fitfully wavering movement{translucent flickering wings between the sun and me— Stevenson
}{thou small flame, which, as a dying pulse rises and falls, still flickerest up and down— Shelley
}{fireflies flicker in the tops of trees— Lowell
}Hover implies a hanging suspended over something like a bird maintaining its position in the air by an even usually slow movement of the wings; the word frequently connotes irresolution, sometimes menace, sometimes solicitude{vultures hovering over a battlefield
}{beho!d him perched in ecstasies, yet seeming still to hover— Wordsworth
}{your servant . . . has been hovering about us and looking at you anxiously for some minutes— Shaw
}{the shark was still hovering about— Birtles
}Analogous words: *fly, dart, skim, float, scud
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
