flaunt

WOTD – 28 June 2008    

English

Alternative forms

• flant (obsolete)

Etymology

Of North Germanic origin, related to Norwegian flanta (“to show off, wander about”), Icelandic flana (“to rush about, act rashly or heedlessly”); or perhaps related to Swedish flankt ("loosely, flutteringly"; compare English flaunt-a-flaunt), from Swedish flanka (“waver, hang and wave about, ramble”), a nasalised variant of Swedish flakka (“to waver”), related to Middle English flacken (“to move to and fro, flutter, palpitate”), see flack.

Pronunciation

• (RP) IPA: /flɔːnt/
• (GenAm) IPA: /flɔnt/
• (cot–caught merger) IPA: /flɒnt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔːnt

Verb

flaunt (third-person singular simple present flaunts, present participle flaunting, simple past and past participle flaunted)

1. (intransitive, obsolete) To wave or flutter smartly in the wind.
2. (transitive) To parade, display with ostentation.

   She's always flaunting her designer clothes.

3. (intransitive) (archaic or literary) To show off with flashy clothing.
   • 1856, Dinah Craik, John Halifax Chapter VI,

     [T]he younger belles had begun to flaunt in the French fashions of flimsy muslins, shortwaisted— narrow-skirted.

   • 1897, Henry James, What Maisie Knew Chapter XXV,

     … and Mrs. Wix seemed to flaunt there in her finery.

Usage notes

• Do not confuse with flout.

Translations

to display with ostentation

• Bulgarian: парадирам (bg) (paradiram)
• Dutch: pronken (nl)
• Estonian: edvistama (et), eputama (et), kenitlema (et)
• Finnish: leveillä (fi), pröystäillä (fi)
• French: étaler (fr), exhiber (fr), parader (fr)
• German: mit (etwas) prunken, (etwas) zur Schau stellen
• Hebrew: התרברב (he) (Hitravrev) m

• Macedonian: шепури (šépuri), фали (fáli)
• Portuguese: ostentar (pt)
• Romanian: parada (ro)
• Russian: щеголять (ru) (ščegolját’)  impf.
• Spanish: lucir (es), presumir (es), ostentar (es)
• Swedish: stoltsera (sv), paradera (sv), briljera (sv)
• Turkish: bir (şeyle) hava atmak, (bir şeyi) teşhir etmek

To show off with flashy clothing

• Bulgarian: показвам се (bg) (pokazvam se)
• Russian: щеголять (ru) (ščegolját’)  impf., дефилировать (ru) (defilírovat’)  impf.

• Swedish: glänsa (sv), briljera (sv)