Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To exhibit ostentatiously or shamelessly: synonym: show.
  • intransitive verb Usage Problem To ignore or disregard (a rule, for example) openly or scornfully.
  • intransitive verb To show oneself off or move in an ostentatious way.
  • intransitive verb To wave grandly.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act of flaunting.
  • noun Anything displayed for show; finery.
  • noun A boast; a vaunt; a brag.
  • To wave or flutter smartly in the wind.
  • To make a smart show in apparel or equipment of any kind; make an ostentatious or brazen display; move or act ostentatiously or brazenly; be glaring or gaudy: sometimes with an indefinite it: as, a flaunting show.
  • To display ostentatiously, impudently, or offensively: as, to flaunt rich apparel.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To throw or spread out; to flutter; to move ostentatiously.
  • transitive verb To display ostentatiously; to make an impudent show of.
  • noun obsolete Anything displayed for show.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb intransitive, obsolete To wave or flutter smartly in the wind.
  • verb transitive To parade, display with ostentation.
  • verb intransitive (archaic or literary) To show off with flashy clothing.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb display proudly; act ostentatiously or pretentiously
  • noun the act of displaying something ostentatiously

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Origin unknown.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

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.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word flaunt.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • Sometimes confused with flout.

    July 12, 2007

  • "their owners are often criticized for flaunting their femininity"

    Source: Free The Nipple in Korea? Why Not? Uncovering the history of a taboo

    January 22, 2018