Prance

//pɹæn(t)s// noun, verb, slang

noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A prancing movement.

    "There seemed a little prance of triumph in his movement,"

  2. 2
    a proud stiff pompous gait wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To spring forward on the hind legs.
  2. 2
    to walk with a lofty proud gait, often in an attempt to impress others wordnet
  3. 3
    To strut about in a showy manner. colloquial, figuratively

    "John's daughter was prancing about the sitting room, practicing for her school dance."

  4. 4
    ride a horse such that it springs and bounds forward wordnet
  5. 5
    cause (a horse) to bound spring forward wordnet
Show 1 more definition
  1. 6
    spring forward on the hind legs wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
strutswaggeramblebargebobbounce

Example

More examples

"The horse liked to prance during shows."

Etymology

From Middle English prancen, prauncen (“to prance”, literally “to show off”), variant of Middle English pranken (“to prank”), thus probably from the same ultimate root as prank. Cognate with Bavarian prangezen, prangssen (“to put on airs”), Alemannic German pranzen (“to strut”).

Related phrases

hind leg

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.