Vaunt
noun, verb ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 An instance of vaunting; a boast.
"the spirits beneath, whom I seduced / with other promises and other vaunts"
- 2 The first part. obsolete
"the vaunt and firstlings of those broils"
- 3 extravagant self-praise wordnet
- 1 To speak boastfully. intransitive
""The number," said he, "is great, but what can be expected from mere citizen soldiers? They vaunt and menace in time of safety; none are so arrogant when the enemy is at a distance; but when the din of war thunders at the gates they hide themselves in terror.""
- 2 show off wordnet
- 3 To speak boastfully about. transitive
- 4 To boast of; to make a vain display of; to display with ostentation. transitive
"Charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up."
Example
More examples"I count not riches as doth the common sort, / nor do I prize the English tongue above all. / For though the isle of Albion vaunt her speech, / and Nippon dreameth of wedlock with the West, / I hold my treasure in a wider store. / The songs of Spain, of France, of Portugal, / of Catalan, Italia, Chabacano, / with Esperanto and Lojban twain, / do weave a garland fair of southern fire. / Yet turn I also eastward, where the dawn / in Orient tongues doth clothe the soul with light— / Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Thai, / and Vietnam's sweet flowing words of jade. / But richest still the tongues that earth forgot, / the songs of elder tribes, Aboriginal, / Amerindian, whose breath is spirit's root, / more precious far than gold of any crown. / Thus is my wealth not coin nor empty fame, / but in the rainbow'd speech of humankind, / where East and West together find their peace, / and every voice is kin unto mine own."
Etymology
From Middle English vaunten, from Anglo-Norman vaunter, variant of Old French vanter, from Latin vānus (“vain, boastful”).
From French avant (“before, fore”). See avant, vanguard.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.