flout and flaunt
Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2005 6:08 pm
flout
v 1: treat with contemptuous disregard; "flout the rules" [syn: scoff]
2: laugh or scoff at; "The crowd jeered at the speaker" [syn:
jeer, scoff, barrack, gibe]
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Flout \Flout\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Flouted; p. pr. & vb. n.
Flouting.] [OD. fluyten to play the flute, to jeer, D.
fluiten, fr. fluit, fr. French. See Flute.]
To mock or insult; to treat with contempt.
Phillida flouts me. --Walton.
Three gaudy standards flout the pale blue sky. --Byron.
Flout \Flout\, v. i.
To practice mocking; to behave with contempt; to sneer; to
fleer; -- often with at.
Fleer and gibe, and laugh and flout. --Swift.
Flout \Flout\, n.
A mock; an insult.
Who put your beauty to this flout and scorn.
--Tennyson.
www.dict.die.net/
BUT:flaunt (flônt)
v., flaunt·ed, flaunt·ing, flaunts.
v.tr.
To exhibit ostentatiously or shamelessly: flaunts his knowledge. See synonyms at show.
Usage Problem. To show contempt for; scorn.
v.intr.
To parade oneself ostentatiously; show oneself off.
To wave grandly: pennants flaunting in the wind.
[Origin unknown.]
flaunt'er n.
flaunt'ing·ly adv.
USAGE NOTE Flaunt as a transitive verb means “to exhibit ostentatiously”: She flaunted her wealth.
www.answers.net
Usage
To flout is “to show contempt for”: She flouted the proprieties. For some time now flaunt has been used in the sense “to show contempt for,” even by educated users of English. This usage is still widely seen as erroneous and is best avoided.
ibid
Essie Bitionist was planning to flout the law by flaunting her new bikini made of a string and two bandaids.
Kt