different between flaunt vs aflaunt

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /fl??nt/
• (some accents) IPA^(key): /fl??nt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /fl?nt/
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /fl?nt/
• Rhymes: -??nt, -??nt

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.
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.

   • 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

Noun

flaunt (plural flaunts)

1. (obsolete) Anything displayed for show.

Etymology 2

Verb

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

1. (proscribed) To flout.

English

Etymology

a- +? flaunt

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??fl??nt/

Adjective

aflaunt (not comparable)

1. In a flaunting state or position.
   • 1614, Copley's Wits, Fits, and Fancies

     Hee that of himself doth bragge, boast, and vaunt, / Hath ill neighbours about him to set him aflaunt.

Anagrams

• unfatal