flaunting

Pluralflauntings

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of flaunt.

   The tech founder has been flaunting his collection of vintage sports cars all over social media.

   Critics accused the team of flaunting their championship rings during the visit to the struggling school.

   Note

   One -ing form, two jobs: after be it makes the progressive (they were flaunting their wealth), and on its own it names the act (flaunting a title rarely wins respect). Watch the neighbor flouting: flaunting a rule, meaning defying it openly, is a slip still treated as nonstandard. You flaunt what you show off; you flout what you ignore.

2. 2
   adjective

   Making a showy display of itself; gaudy and eye-catching.

   The hotel lobby was all flaunting chandeliers and gilded mirrors.

   Among the plain gray suits, his flaunting purple tie stood out at once.

   Similarshowy, flashy, gaudy, ostentatious, flamboyant

   Oppositeunderstated, modest, plain

   Note

   The participle used as a plain describing word, and it grades: more flaunting, most flaunting. It is a word of disapproval, close to gaudy and showy, for things that seem to demand a look. Harriet Beecher Stowe, opening Uncle Tom's Cabin, gives an over-dressed slave trader a gaudy vest, a spotted neckerchief and "a flaunting tie", all in keeping with the man.

3. 3
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The act of displaying something in a showy way so as to draw attention to it.

   The open flaunting of wealth by the city's elite fueled resentment during the recession.

   The novel mocks the flauntings of a newly rich family eager to impress their neighbors.

   Similardisplay, parading, showing

   Note

   Unlike the gerund, this noun can be counted, and the plural names separate displays: Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness (1899) speaks of "the outrageous flauntings of folly" in the face of a danger it cannot grasp. It usually comes with of for what is shown off (the flaunting of wealth) and with harsh adjectives like open or outrageous.

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