Make Your Point > Archived Issues > FILLIP

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connect this word to others: Nudges, budges, pokes, prods, boosts, shoves, goads, and fillips: they're all little stimuli, little things that cause movement. If you were to arrange those bold terms in order from gentlest to most violent, how would you do it?  make your point with... "FILLIP" This word probably comes from imitating the sound of a finger flicking something. Strictly speaking, a fillip is a flick of the finger against the thumb, the kind you do to thump things (or people) or to send little things flying. More loosely speaking, a fillip is anything that reminds you of a little flick of the fingers. So a fillip can be      a small, unimportant thing;      a small, exciting, impressive thing;      a small amount of something; or, most often,      a little thing that makes good things happen. Pronunciation: FILL ip (just like the name Phillip) Part of speech: Noun, the countable kind: "a fillip," "these fillips." It's also a verb, often the transitive kind: "it fillips the economy," "it fillipped my memory." Other forms: fillips, fillipped, fillipping How to use it: You might use "fillip" to mean "a little trivial thing," "a little wonderful thing," or "a little dash (of anything)." In that case, you might talk about stylistic fillips in a film, culinary fillips on a menu, items for sale as fillips near the cash register, etc. Here's The New Yorker: "[the artist's themes] run to death and sorrow, with a fillip of political history." Most of the time, though, when you use "fillip," you mean "a nice little upward nudge or boost," and you talk about getting fillips. More specifically, you talk about people (like politicians and athletes) and groups (like companies and subcultures) and things (like scores, earnings, and economies, as well as abstract things like pride, hope, and confidence) getting fillips. If it can be nudged, boosted, or stimulated, it can get a fillip.  And if it can nudge, boost, or stimulate, it can be a fillip. If you earn a promotion or secure a new client, that's a fillip for you at work. If your opponent makes a critical mistake, that's a fillip for you in your game. If your child transitions from expensive daycare to free public school, that's a fillip for you and your budget. (Thank you, sweet Jesus!) If a stranger compliments your hair on a day you were feeling sloppy, that's a fillip for you and your self-confidence. (Thank you, Aldi girl!) Here's The Guardian: "For arts education... McQueen's project will surely be a fillip." You can also talk about people, events, and actions offering or providing fillips, often to or for other people or things: "the relocation to a more crowded area provided the store a fillip," "lower interest rates offered a fillip to buyers," "the new museum provided a fillip to civic pride." examples: "Attendance at the conferences got a fillip two years ago, when about 200 people converged from as far as the U.S. and Japan for Bakunin’s 200th birthday."    — Alan Cullison, The Wall Street Journal, 18 August 2016 "There are digressions and some wonderful visual fillips — beautifully curved trees and noble stone statues lined up like soldiers."    — Manohla Dargis, The New York Times, 1 February 2018 has this page helped you understand "fillip"? Awesome, I'm glad it helped! Thanks for letting me know! If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. study it: Explain the meaning of "fillip" without saying "boost" or "push." try it out: Fill in the blanks: "_____ provided a welcome fillip to _____." Example: "The Watermelon Festival provides a welcome fillip to the shops and restaurants lining Cary Street." If you like, use this space to draft your sentence. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.) before you review, play: Spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—let your working memory empty out first. Our game this month is "Big Bang Thicket." In each issue, hack your way through the polysyllabic title of an episode of The Big Bang Theory, and use your knowledge of vocabulary to answer the question about what happens in that episode. From the previous issue:  In "The Extract Obliteration," during a word game with his friends, Sheldon plays the term "extract." Does this move destroy his friends' chances, making him the winner? Or does it improve his relationships with these friends? Answer: It destroys the other players' chances. To obliterate things is to make them disappear or to destroy them completely, as if you're completely marking them out with a pen. Try this one today:  In "The Tangible Affection Proof," do the couples break up with each other or give each other Valentine's Day gifts? review this word: 1. The opposite of FILLIP is A. ROOT. B. SETBACK. C. TRANQUILITY. 2. In an unexpected fillip, Katniss _____. A. aims her arrow directly at the dictator, then fires B. receives a training score of 11, increasing her appeal to the sponsors  C. finds herself the only breadwinner in the family, struggling for survival after her father's death 1. B 2. B a final word: I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog:    36 ways to study words.    Why we forget words, & how to remember them.    How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.