flaky

«flaky» in Mova's school dictionary: breaking off easily into thin, flat pieces called flakes — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 3 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

adjective (flaky, flakier, flakiest — also spelled flakey)

meaning for a pupil

1) Flaky means breaking off easily into thin, flat pieces called flakes. tree →

2) Flaky skin is dry and comes off in small bits. tree →

3) (informal) A flaky person is unreliable: they forget things or cancel plans. tree →

4) (informal) Something flaky, like a wifi connection or a computer program, works only some of the time. tree →

sense in the lessons

In cooking, flaky pastry is light with many thin layers, like in a sausage roll or croissant. In health, dry or flaky skin may need cream. In everyday talk and stories, a flaky friend is one you cannot count on. Common phrases: «flaky pastry», «flaky skin», «flaky paint», «a bit flaky», «flaky internet».

examples

• The sausage rolls were made with flaky pastry. tree →
• The old paint on the gate was flaky. tree →
• My lips get flaky in winter. tree →
• Don't rely on Jake — he's a bit flaky and always cancels. tree →
• The wifi is flaky in the garden. tree →
• Fish is cooked when it is white and flaky. tree →
• A Flake is a crumbly chocolate bar that goes in ice cream in the UK. tree →

note

Comparative: flakier, flakiest. Built from «flake» + «-y». The «unreliable» meaning is informal; it is a mild criticism, not a rude word.

In the corpora

• Leave a bike out in the rain all winter and its chain and bolts turn orange-brown and flaky.
• Rust is flaky and falls away, so fresh iron underneath is uncovered and rusts next.
• Rust is flaky and falls off, so it does not protect the iron underneath and rusting can go right through.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «flaky» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.