What does "strut" mean?
A step or walk done stiffly and with the head held high, often due to haughtiness or pride; affected dignity in walking.
Strut
/stɹʌt/ adj, noun, verb
adj, noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A step or walk done stiffly and with the head held high, often due to haughtiness or pride; affected dignity in walking.
- Grammar: strut is listed as adj, noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: swagger, aeroplane, airplane, amble.
- Useful contrasts: collapse, humble stride, nonload-bearing element.
- Usage evidence: "What?" asked Al-Sayib. "You think that being on international TV means that you need to strut around in an Armani now?"
How to use "strut"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "strut" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "strut" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "strut" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "strut" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "strut" is acting as adj, noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "swagger" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "strut", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A step or walk done stiffly and with the head held high, often due to haughtiness or pride; affected dignity in walking. also, figuratively
"Putting on his hat, and thrusting both hands into the pockets of his trousers, he marched with a nonchalant strut out of the room, [...]"
- 2 A beam or rod providing support.
"This alteration will obviate the necessity for the injudicious iron struts which are now introduced between the backs of the columns and the face of the pilasters, and which, in a practical point of view, afford little or no advantage, except against a direct shock; and even in many such cases they have failed in that object; for in such of them as have been struck, permanent alteration of the strut has taken place, which now has the effect of holding those portions of the shaft with which they are connected out of their places."
- 3 a proud stiff pompous gait wordnet
- 4 An instrument for adjusting the pleats of a ruff. historical
- 5 An act of strutting (“bracing or supporting (something) by a strut or struts (sense 1); attaching diagonally; bending at a sharp angle”); specifically, deviation (of the spoke of a wheel) from the normal position.
Show 1 more definition
- 6 brace consisting of a bar or rod used to resist longitudinal compression wordnet
Verb
- 1 Of a peacock or other fowl: to stand or walk stiffly, with the tail erect and spread out. intransitive
"Hark, hark, I heare, the ſtraine of ſtrutting Chanticlere cry cockadidle-dowe."
- 2 To brace or support (something) by a strut or struts; to hold (something) in place or strengthen by a diagonal, transverse, or upright support. also, figuratively, transitive
"Masonry flying arches strutting the retaining walls in Chorley cutting, Manchester-Blackpool line, L.M.S.R."
- 3 to walk with a lofty proud gait, often in an attempt to impress others wordnet
- 4 To walk haughtily or proudly with one's head held high. also, broadly, figuratively, intransitive
"He strutted about the yard, thinking himself master of all he surveyed."
- 5 To be attached diagonally or at a slant; also, to be bent at a sharp angle. intransitive
Show 3 more definitions
- 6 To walk across or on (a stage or other place) haughtily or proudly. broadly, transitive
"Taking you and your colleagues as the model of modern times, I should almost fear that the John Bull of former days was as different from the John Bull of the present time, as is a broad-shouldered, fearless Highlandman from the dapper cockney who struts the Park by the side of his fellow-milliner."
- 7 Often followed by out: to protuberate or stick out due to being full or swollen; to bulge, to swell. intransitive, obsolete
"Sometimes [the clitoris] groweth to such a length that it hangeth without the cleft like a mans member, especially when it is fretted with the touch of the cloaths, and so strutteth and groweth to a rigiditie as doth the yarde [penis] of a man."
- 8 Often followed by out: to cause (something) to bulge, protrude, or swell. obsolete, transitive
"[H]e gains the glitt'ring prize, / And ſtruts the gaudy food of gazing eyes, / A thing—that oft his Footmen may deſpiſe."
Adjective
- 1 Swelling out due to being full; bulging, protuberant, swollen. obsolete
- 2 Drunk, intoxicated; fou. Scotland, obsolete
Example
""What?" asked Al-Sayib. "You think that being on international TV means that you need to strut around in an Armani now?""
Common questions
What is a synonym for "strut"?
Common synonyms include: swagger, aeroplane, airplane, amble, barge, beam.
How do you use "strut" in a sentence?
"What?" asked Al-Sayib. "You think that being on international TV means that you need to strut around in an Armani now?"
How do you pronounce "strut"?
Pronounced /stɹʌt/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
The verb is derived from Middle English strouten, struten (“to bulge, swell; to protrude, stick out; to bluster, threaten; to object forcefully; to create a disturbance; to fight; to display one's clothes in a proud or vain manner”) [and other forms], from Old English strūtian (“to project out; stand out stiffly; to exert oneself, struggle”), from Proto-Germanic *strūtōną, *strūtijaną (“to be puffed up, swell”), from Proto-Indo-European *streudʰ- (“rigid, stiff”), from *(s)ter- (“firm; strong; rigid, stiff”). The English word is cognate with Danish strutte (“to bulge, bristle”), Low German strutt (“stiff”), Middle High German striuzen (“to bristle; to ruffle”) (modern German strotzen (“to bristle up”), sträußen (obsolete, except in Alemannic)); and compare Gothic 𐌸𐍂𐌿𐍄𐍃𐍆𐌹𐌻𐌻 (þrutsfill, “leprosy”), Old Norse þrútinn (“swollen”). The noun is derived from the verb. Noun sense 2 (“instrument for adjusting the pleats of a ruff”) appears to be due to a misreading of a 16th-century work which used the word stroout (strouted (“caused (something) to bulge, protrude, or swell; strutted”)).
Etymology 2
The origin of sense 1 of the noun (“beam or rod providing support”) is unknown; it is probably ultimately from Proto-Germanic *strūtōną, *strūtijaną (“to be puffed up, swell”): see further at etymology 1. The English word is cognate with Icelandic strútur (“hood jutting out like a horn”), Low German strutt (“rigid, stiff”), Norwegian strut (“nozzle, spout”), Swedish strut (“paper cornet”). The verb is derived from sense 1 of the noun. Sense 2 of the noun (“act of strutting”) is derived from the verb: see above.
Etymology 3
Probably an archaic past participle of strut (“to (cause something to) bulge, protrude, or swell”), now replaced by strutted: see etymology 1.