flaked; flaking
1
: to separate into flakes
also
: to peel in flakes
2
or flake out informal
: to fail or neglect to do or participate in something previously scheduled, agreed upon, or assigned
He'd disappear, then text, disappear, and then text again. So it's not particularly surprising that when we finally made plans to meet he flaked without a word.—
Kerensa Cadenas
Kerensa CadenasMy brother isn't the type to flake out without warning.—D. Morgan Ballmer
—often used with onD. Morgan BallmerFlake on your friends too often and pretty soon your only friends will be Dharma and Greg.—Colleen Rush
Colleen RushLet's get him to sign his name to that before he flakes out on you!—Rhoda Janzen
Rhoda Janzen
: a stage, platform, or tray for drying fish or produce
Examples of flake in a Sentence
Noun (1)
sprinkle the cake with coconut flakes
Verb
Bake the fish until it flakes easily when tested with a fork.
Noun (3)
the lady with all those cats is sweet, but kind of a flake
Recent Examples on the Web
Laura McLively, Mercury News, 20 May 2025
In language as deft and muscular as Rosa’s team, Drexler captures the scent of the blood and the resin, every wisecrack and sob story, every flake of talc and gob of spit, every pimple and blackhead on the lady wrestlers’ thighs.
—Lauren Elkin, New York Times, 20 May 2025
Don Shiner, Outdoor Life, 14 May 2025
Other fragments from the site appear to have flaked off large columns that once supported the villa’s porticoed garden: They’re composed of curved stucco gouged with decorative vertical lines, meant to make the columns fluted.
—Sonja Anderson, Smithsonian Magazine, 22 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for flake
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Noun
Spread the coconut flakes on a large rimmed baking sheet.
—Laura McLively, Mercury News, 20 May 2025
In language as deft and muscular as Rosa’s team, Drexler captures the scent of the blood and the resin, every wisecrack and sob story, every flake of talc and gob of spit, every pimple and blackhead on the lady wrestlers’ thighs.
—Lauren Elkin, New York Times, 20 May 2025
Verb
Came morning and the air was cool and quiet, the sky flaked with small clouds.
—Don Shiner, Outdoor Life, 14 May 2025
Other fragments from the site appear to have flaked off large columns that once supported the villa’s porticoed garden: They’re composed of curved stucco gouged with decorative vertical lines, meant to make the columns fluted.
—Sonja Anderson, Smithsonian Magazine, 22 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for flake
Cite this Entry
“Flake.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/flake. Accessed 29 May. 2025.
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