flaunt

English

WOTD – 28 June 2008

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /flɔːnt/
• (some accents) IPA^(key): /flɑːnt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /flɔnt/
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /flɒnt/

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• Audio (AU)

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• Rhymes: -ɔːnt, -ɑːnt

Etymology 1

Of North Germanic origin. Perhaps related to Norwegian flanta (“to show off, wander about”), Icelandic flana (“to rush about, act rashly or heedlessly”) and then also to French flâner (“to wander around, loiter”).

Alternatively, it could be related to Swedish flankt (“loosely, flutteringly”) (compare English flaunt-a-flaunt), from flanka (“waver, hang and wave about, ramble”), a nasalised variant of flakka (“to waver”), related to Middle English flacken (“to move to and fro, flutter, palpitate”). See flack.

Alternative forms

• flant (obsolete)

Verb

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

1. (intransitive, archaic) To wave or flutter smartly in the wind.
   • 1931, William Faulkner, Sanctuary, Library of America, 1985, p.26:

     The house came into sight, above the cedar grove beyond whose black interstices an apple orchard flaunted in the sunny afternoon.

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

   She's always flaunting her designer clothes.

   • 2017 June 7, Adam Lusher, “Adnan Khashoggi: the 'whoremonger' whose arms deals funded a playboy life of decadence and 'pleasure wives'”, in The Independent‎^[1], London:

     Never one to miss an opportunity to flaunt his wealth, Khashoggi let his yacht be used for the 1983 Bond film Never Say Never Again.

3. (intransitive, archaic or literary) To show off, as with flashy clothing.
   • 1712, John Arbuthnot, The History of John Bull:

     You flaunt about the streets in your new gilt chariot.

   • 1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], (please specify |epistle=I to IV), London: Printed for J[ohn] Wilford, […], OCLC 960856019:

     One flaunts in rags, one flutters in brocade.

   • 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

• Not to be confused with flout.

Derived terms

• if you've got it, flaunt it

Translations

to wave or flutter smartly

• Bulgarian: развявам (bg) (razvjavam)
• Finnish: hulmuta
• German: kühn wehen, stolz wehen

to display with ostentation

• Bulgarian: парадирам (bg) (paradiram)
• Catalan: ostentar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 詡／诩 (zh) (xǔ)

• Dutch: pronken (nl)
• Estonian: edvistama, eputama, kenitlema
• Finnish: leveillä (fi), pröystäillä, prameilla (fi), komeilla (fi)
• French: étaler (fr), exhiber (fr), parader (fr)
• German: (etwas) zur Schau stellen, herumstolzieren (de), stolzieren (de), paradieren (de), (etwas) zur Schau tragen, offen zeigen
• Hebrew: התרברב‎ m (Hitravrev)
• Italian: ostentare (it), esibire (it), mettere in mostra
• Macedonian: шепури (šepuri) (šépuri), фали (fali) (fáli)
• Maori: whakatamarahi, whakametometo, whakameremere, whakatamarahi
• Occitan: ostentar (oc)
• Persian: نمایش دادن‎ (fa)
• Polish: obnosić się impf, afiszować (pl) impf (dated), zaafiszować pf (dated)
• Portuguese: ostentar (pt)
• Romanian: parada (ro)
• Russian: щеголя́ть (ru) impf (ščegoljátʹ)
• Spanish: lucir (es), presumir (es), ostentar (es), tremolar (es)
• Swedish: stoltsera (sv), paradera (sv), briljera (sv)
• Turkish: bir (şeyle) hava atmak, (bir şeyi) teşhir etmek
• Ukrainian: хизува́тися impf (xyzuvátysja), кокетува́ти impf (koketuváty)
• Vietnamese: khoe (vi)

To show off

• Bulgarian: показвам се (pokazvam se)
• Finnish: komeilla (fi), koreilla (fi), prameilla (fi)
• German: mit (etwas) prunken, protzen (de), prangen (de)
• Maori: whakametometo, whakamenomeno, whakameremere
• Polish: afiszować się impf (dated), zaafiszować się pf (dated)
• Russian: щеголя́ть (ru) impf (ščegoljátʹ), дефили́ровать (ru) impf (defilírovatʹ)
• Swedish: glänsa (sv), briljera (sv)

Noun

flaunt (plural flaunts)

1. (obsolete) Anything displayed for show.
   • c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act IV, scene iii]:

     Should I , in these my borrow'd flaunts, behold
     The sternness of his presence?

Etymology 2

Verb

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

1. (proscribed) To flout.
   • 2017 January 20, David Shepardson, “Outgoing FCC chair warns against overturning net neutrality”, in Reuters‎^[2]:

     Wheeler said companies already are flaunting the rules by offering free or sponsored data services for some products.