flaunt

WOTD - 28 June 2008    

English

Etymology

Uncertain, possibly an alteration of flout or vaunt. Originally intransitive.

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔːnt

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To parade, display with ostentation.

   She's always flaunting her designer clothes.

2. (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

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)

To show off with flashy clothing

Russian: щеголять (ru) (ščegolját’) impf., дефилировать (ru) (defilírovat’) impf.

Swedish: glänsa (sv), briljera (sv)