Definition of flip-flop in English:

flip-flop

Pronunciation /ˈflip fläp/ /ˈflɪp flɑp/

noun

1A light sandal, typically of plastic or rubber, with a thong between the big and second toe.
- ‘Since I don't recommend wearing leather, suede, or any kind of dressy shoe to the beach, plastic or rubber flip-flops are the perfect solution.’
- ‘Many people go barefoot, or wear flip-flops or plastic sandals.’
- ‘All you should need to take is a pair of very flimsy flip-flops or sandals for the beach, a pair of trainers or canvas shoes to wander around in and a pair of evening shoes for nights out.’
- ‘The casual cousins of slip-on sandals, flip-flops are basically nice shower shoes.’
- ‘After the running shoes there's a myriad of flats, sandals and flip-flops before we get to kitten heels.’
- ‘If you're headed for the swimming pool or the backyard barbecue, flip-flops or sandals are more appropriate than sweaty sneakers.’
- ‘Short of sneakers and flip-flops, the pickings are paradoxically slim.’
- ‘Underneath the clothes are many pairs of shoes including flip-flops, tennis shoes, and slippers.’
- ‘Not far away, a small pile of flip-flops, sandals and trainers have been carefully gathered, next to a growing mountain of wreaths.’
- ‘Dress them down with sneakers or flip-flops or take them out on the town with heels.’
- ‘While his comrades wore flip-flops and sandals, he had to wear boots, because of an ankle injury he had received in another motorbike accident.’
- ‘For men, it's all about leather sandals and colourful flip-flops.’
- ‘The front hallway was littered with cute flip-flops and sandals, hiding beneath it the gorgeous Italian marble.’
- ‘To the left of the entrance stood a huge basket of mismatched flip-flops and sandals, to be put on before going inside.’
- ‘I just picked up a pair of flip-flop sandals from the web - a necessity, because my feet are big enough that most stores don't carry my size.’
- ‘What is it with this ridiculous fashion at the moment for wearing loose sandals or flip-flops?’
- ‘The footwear of choice is the plastic flip-flop.’
- ‘I only had three pairs; a pair of black rubber flip-flops which I was wearing, Converse sneakers and an extremely beat up pair of brown boots.’
- ‘Donation boxes have been placed at all the churches for sturdy sandals and flip-flops for children aged 4 to 10.’
- ‘I now freely wear sandals and flip-flops throughout the summer.’
2North American A backward handspring.
- ‘Equally renowned was her power on balance beam, where she tumbled a very high back layout to two feet, and dismounted with two flip-flops to a full-twisting double back.’
- ‘Her routine included a full-twisting flip-flop and triple twist dismount.’
- ‘The three-time Olympian fell on her mount (front salto on) and later on a flip-flop.’
- ‘Patterson fell off the beam on a flip-flop to piked full, but earned the top mark on floor exercise.’
- ‘On balance beam, Neijssen fell on a flip-flop, full; and van Leeuwen missed her layout mount and had other wobbles.’
- ‘The team was forced to count two falls from Pavlova, who missed a Jaeger on uneven bars, and fell on a flip-flop, layout on balance beam.’
- ‘Ukraine's Olga Roschupkina went first, and fell almost immediately on her flip-flop to two layouts.’
- ‘On balance beam she fell on her flip-flop to tucked full, and crashed her whip-double pike on floor.’
- ‘She dropped to sixth after falling from balance beam (gainer flip-flop to Onodi), and scored 8.850 on floor exercise in the final round.’
- ‘Also on balance beam, Yarotskaya performed a gainer flip-flop to Onodi, and an aerial-side somi combination.’
- ‘On balance beam, she performed a flip-flop to Arabian that was solid but thrown after a long pause before the combination.’
- ‘On balance beam, Khorkina mounted with a round-off layout to two feet, immediate flip-flop, layout step-out.’
1. 2.1informal An abrupt reversal of policy.
  ‘his flip-flop on taxes’
  ‘We have seen an incredible flip-flop on the nuclear policy by this Party.’
  ‘Every time he was asked, he was not quite sure, or he did a flip-flop on policy.’
  ‘It was important that they were allowed to slug it out over the so-called flip-flop on that legislation.’
  ‘This was followed by his flip-flop on the testing for salmonella in hamburger meat served in school lunch programs.’
  ‘After his flip-flop on Kyoto last week, he is at it again this week.’
  ‘Do members remember the flip-flop on apprenticeships?’
  ‘There has been an absolute flip-flop on health funding.’
  ‘Stop the flip-flop on Hydro and get serious about our electrical needs.’
  ‘And having achieved his narrow victory, the famous flip-flop on fundamental issues was second nature to him.’
  ‘But he was insisting that his recent abject flip-flop had not made him look like complete idiots in the eyes of the international legal community.’
  ‘Just witness one former governor's flip-flop on the issue of driver's licenses for illegal aliens.’
  ‘Even more perplexing is his flip-flop on this issue.’
  ‘His flip-flop on this issue makes him open to criticism.’
  ‘Then there's the governor's suspicious flip-flop on a tax break for the insurance industry.’
  ‘The government is still micro-meddling in business, and the abrupt flip-flop highlights their inconsistent policy-making.’
  ‘Teachers said the major reason they have had difficulties in teaching the new materials were related to educational policy flip-flops, that have left them confused.’
  ‘Regular policy flip-flops by the government have alienated the business community, which feels it has been left out of the loop.’
  ‘Policy flip-flops will only confuse matters and cause people to lose faith in the government's reform measures.’
  ‘The repeated policy flip-flops of the Greens have undermined the base of that party as well.’
  ‘That is one issue, but of course there is an even bigger flip-flop on an issue that is very close to many New Zealanders' hearts.’
3Electronics
A switching circuit which works by changing from one stable state to another, or through an unstable state back to its stable state, in response to a triggering pulse.
- ‘I built a flip-flop circuit, flipped the switch, watched the relay click on and remain on.’
- ‘In state 0, when the flip-flop receives an input pulse, it flips to state 1 but does nothing else.’
- ‘When this flip-flop is triggered, it provides an output to the pulse generator to start the experiment in synchrony with the video signal.’
- ‘John did this by waving a small quartz crystal pendulum over the resistor, which was either passing current, or not - depending on the position of a simple flip-flop relay inside the circuit box.’
- ‘In one embodiment, the storage element is a data latch comprising a clock-enabled inverter serially coupled with a flip-flop.’

intransitive verb

[no object]

1with adverbial of direction Move with a flapping sound or motion.
‘she flip-flopped off the porch in battered sneakers’
- ‘Twenty minutes later, they are flip-flopping on the deck.’
- ‘Almost in a trance, I flip-flopped into the place, paid the fee, took off my clothes, went in and sat on a stool, washed myself ever so carefully, repeated the routine, then slipped into the bath.’
- ‘He's wearing a Northern Arizona baseball cap backward as he flip-flops by in his thongs clutching a Dean Koontz book.’
2North American informal Make an abrupt reversal of policy.
‘the candidate flip-flopped on a number of issues’
- ‘Homeowners, watching the value of their flats tumble, complain that Tung flip-flopped on his housing policy - without telling the public.’
- ‘They pounded the point that he has allegedly flip-flopped on numerous policy issues in his political career.’
- ‘I haven't flip-flopped on anything, I just said I wasn't going to rehash the primary and we're now in a general election and between these two candidates, I think the choice is clear.’
- ‘But this author doesn't even seem to recognize that he actually has flip-flopped on the issue, rather than simply failing to explain the subtle nuances of his position.’
- ‘He flip-flopped on that and is now ‘pro-choice’.’
- ‘He also said he had flip-flopped on taxes and education, as well as his election promise to maintain fiscal discipline.’
- ‘All night long, you've flip-flopped on this show.’
- ‘He seems to have flip-flopped on a number of issues and he seems to be a bit reckless with what he says, but he hasn't done enough of that for people to laugh in agreement if you write about those things.’
- ‘And, yeah, he hasn't flip-flopped on any issue.’
- ‘I've flip-flopped on this issue for a long time.’
- ‘I specifically voted against him on the sole basis that he flip-flopped on something or other and could very well flip flop again.’
- ‘He has even less credibility when we see him as the man who came into this Parliament as a man above politics, a man of principle - who then flip-flopped on every principle he had ever believed in.’
- ‘He has flip-flopped on the Modernisation Bill.’
- ‘It has flip-flopped on every issue of any significance.’
- ‘I know that I've flip-flopped on Chapter 6 for a long time, so please forgive me.’
- ‘The National Party has since flip-flopped on that issue, of course, and its members now say that they support it.’
- ‘The Prime Minister is also flip-flopping on policy.’
- ‘Aides insist that the president hasn't flip-flopped and that his policy has been consistent throughout.’
- ‘Even this Party should allow a decent pause before it flip-flops on fiscal policy.’
- ‘What there isn't a case for doing is what the Government's doing, which is actually flip-flopping all the time and changing its mind.’