Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Dash; verve.
- n. A bunch of feathers or a plume, especially on a helmet.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In architecture, the triangular surface of a pendentive.
- n. A plume as worn in a hat or helmet or in a woman's hair; especially, in medieval armor, a massive group of feathers set erect, often used as a heraldic bearing.
- n. In zoology, a tuft, bunch, or cluster of hairs, feathers, or the like; a scopula; a panicle.
- n. In astronomy, a tuft-like solar protuberance of eruption.
Wiktionary
- n. countable An ornamental plume on a helmet.
- n. uncountable Flamboyant, energetic style or action; dash; verve.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A plume or bunch of feathers, esp. such a bunch worn on the helmet; any military plume, or ornamental group of feathers.
- n. A pleasingly flamboyant style or manner; flair{4}; verve.
WordNet 3.0
- n. distinctive and stylish elegance
- n. a feathered plume on a helmet
Etymologies
- Borrowing from French panache, from Middle French pennache ("plume of feathers"), from Italian pennacchio, from Latin pinnaculum. (Wiktionary)
- French, plume, verve, from Italian pinnacchio, plume, from Late Latin pinnāculum, diminutive of Latin pinna, feather, wing; see pet- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“But what his style may have lacked in panache, it certainly made up in passion.”
“It was an expensive and strangely obscure institution, named for its syphilitic Whig founder, but we often called it, with what we considered a certain panache, the Mediocre University at New York City.”
“Above the helmet is a large plume of white feathers called a panache -- the origin of our modern word.”
The Wall Street Journal: 'Champlain's Dream: The European Founding of North America'
“Some of this handling panache is a by-product of the Ruf integrated roll cage, which is installed while the car is still a bare shell.”
“I took some time to look at the new models on display, and while the new cars are dazzling with their electronic wizardry and sleek forms, these cars seem to be lacking a certain panache, a flair for style.”
“There's a certain panache that goes along with being an”
USATODAY.com - Hats off to a trio of unsung Opening Day starters
“Jeremy Affeldt, although lacking the name panache of Wilson, was actually the superior player last year.”
“Men should wear ties and women should add an accessory that has "panache" -- such as a piece of jewelry or a sharp-looking purse or briefcase.”
The Wall Street Journal: Inside a Bastion of Old-School Power Attire
“Bark Bark Woof Woof News Media On-Line IncorporatedHas a certain panache ...”
“The difference between me and other people who haven't yet had their workout and shower is, of course, that I wear them elegantly, and with a certain panache.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘panache’.
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Test Prep or Just for fun
Building a list for standardized test prep or just for learning some new words! Please add any words that you feel are important for the SAT/GRE/GMAT etc...
throng, morass, parley, facile, kismet, strife, jetsam, carrion, annex, harbinger, vestige, surreptitious and 575 more...
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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Sue's favorite words
panache, flair, pantaloons, periwinkle, pumpernickel, persnickety, cachet, coquette, élan, iris, ambrosia, keen and 99 more...
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GRE 2014
abate, abdicate, abase, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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From reading
Collected from reading
venerate, reprobate, reticent, adoration, ethereal, ephemeral, equivocal, contumacious, heinous, solicitous, agnostic, aberration and 335 more...
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EN-HU - important words for a HU inte...
Words only (I left out the expressions) from Geza Kerenyi's EN-HU interpreters' dictionary. Most of them pose some difficulty when interpreted between HU and EN in either or both directions.
abalone, abrasive, abstractionist, abstruse, abysmal, academia, accessibility, accessible, acclimate, accolade, accompanist, achiever and 1469 more...
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Naresh_Gre2
convoke, cosset, coterie, declaim, distaff, doff, dovetail, droll, dyspeptic, egress, ersatz, euphemism and 108 more...
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March 2012
panache, evanescent, erogenous, vestibule, malfeasance, lacuna, blithering, incubate, breech, tabernacle, pearly, upholstery and 79 more...
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man gre
abase, abeyance, abreast, abscission, abscond, abyss, accede, accretion, acerbic, acidulous, acumen, adulterate and 483 more...
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SAT words
tergiversate, cymotrichous, vigilance, wince, consternation, cower, neutralize, euphony, cacophony, misanthrope, bibliophile, kleptomania and 81 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1847 more...
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P is for Porch Dog
My P Words
paddington, paddy wagon, paddy whack, paddywhack, paisano, pandemonium, pantaloon, pantaloons, paper tiger, papoose, parachute pants, parcel and 109 more...
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List Erine
cool mint antiseptic
shalom, cattywampus, bourgeoisie, aerophile, traverse, grotto, epicurean, ex cathedra, nautilus, epitaph, lathe, continuum and 753 more...
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newGRE
mostly from magoosh
imbue, verge on, nonchalant, deliberate, timorous, futile, provisional, dissect, checked, tinged, alluring, visionary and 1046 more...
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My Revised GRE Preparation List
Words from the new GRE : This list consists mostly of words from the book Magoosh-GRE-vocab-ebook, which is one of the best vocab materials available, especially if you have started preparing one ...
alacrity, prosaic, veracity, paucity, contrite, trite, maintain, laconic, pugnacious, disparate, egregious, innocuous and 533 more...
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GRE 3500 P
paean, pall, palliate, pallid, palpable, palpitate, paltry, pan, panache, panegyric, pantomime, paraphernalia and 93 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for panache.
milosrdenstvi Brought into English by Rostand in his play Cyrano de Bergerac; his dying words declare that it is the only thing that cannot be taken away from him. Aug 18, 2008
sionnach "The bump in my forehead is the result of a regrettable cooking accident", explained Tom with panache. Dec 8, 2007
brtom "In lowcorsaged opal balldress and elbowlength ivory gloves, wearing a sabletrimmed brick quilted dolman, a comb of brilliants and panache of osprey in her hair."
Joyce, Ulysses, 15 Feb 5, 2007