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Jilt traces back to the English dialect noun jillet ("a flirtatious girl"), itself from Jill or Gill (used both as a proper name and as a noun meaning "girl") plus the diminutive suffix -et. Jilt itself came into use in the second half of the 17th century as a noun meaning "an unchaste woman" (a sense that is now obsolete) or "a woman who capriciously casts a lover aside," and also as a verb used for the actions of such a woman. These days, the person doing the jilting can be either male or female, and though jilt usually implies the sudden ending of a romantic relationship, it can also be used beyond the context of a romantic relationship with the broader meaning "to sever close relations with."
Examples of jilt in a Sentence
Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 15 May 2025
The fan base would deserve better; jilted fan bases always do, but this is business.
—Dom Amore, Hartford Courant, 13 May 2025
Shayndi Raice, WSJ, 14 Nov. 2018
See All Example Sentences for jilt
Cite this Entry
“Jilt.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jilt. Accessed 23 Jul. 2025.
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jilt
1 of 2 verbjilt
2 of 2 noun
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