strut
1 Americanverb (used without object)
noun
-
the act of strutting.
-
a strutting walk or gait.
idioms
noun
verb (used with object)
verb
-
(intr) to walk in a pompous manner; swagger
-
(tr) to support or provide with struts
-
informal to behave or perform in a proud and confident manner; show off
noun
-
a structural member used mainly in compression, esp as part of a framework
-
an affected, proud, or stiff walk
Synonym Usage
Strut and swagger refer especially to carriage in walking. Strut implies swelling pride or pompousness; to strut is to walk with a stiff, pompous, seemingly affected or self-conscious gait: A turkey struts about the barnyard. Swagger implies a domineering, sometimes jaunty, superiority or challenge, and a self-important manner: to swagger down the street.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of strut1
First recorded before 1000; Middle English strouten “to protrude stiffly, swell, bluster,” Old English strūtian “to struggle,” derivative of unattested strūt (whence Middle English strut “strife”)
Origin of strut2
First recorded in 1565–75; obscurely akin to strut 1
Explanation
When you strut, you walk with a proud swagger that has a little arrogance thrown in, like the prance of a running back who has just flown past the 250-pound linebackers and planted the ball in the end zone. You can't strut and be shy about it — when you strut, you know people are watching you. The big boss in a gangster film, a model on the runway, and the rap artist whose album has just gone platinum all know how to strut. The noun form of strut has a little less flash and refers to a vertical or horizontal support that holds something up, like the long steel bars holding up a building.
Vocabulary lists containing strut
Touching Spirit Bear
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Hot to Trot: Animal Ambulation
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Stargirl
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
This was the ninth year for the annual World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, and it has emerged as the premier occasion for China to strut its stuff in AI.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
"The driver came back to his car eventually and he opened the engine bay up and the snake was sat on the right-hand side above the strut spring."
From BBC ● Jun. 17, 2026
Our clique comes storming down the mall food court in that classic slow-motion strut, letting us know right away what we’re in for.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 26, 2026
Around 25 outfits will strut the catwalk on Sunday, a moment that "goes by in a flash".
From Barron's ● Feb. 18, 2026
The fires pool and strut; they flow up the sides of the ramparts like tides; they splash into alleys, over rooftops, through a carpark.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
Before the game, he strutted around, at one point even grabbing Dalton Rushing, decked in full catcher’s gear, to get hyped.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2026
As Bad Bunny strutted through the greenery, he passed by old men playing dominoes, women chatting in a nail salon and boxers sparring—a montage of scenes from life in Puerto Rico.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 9, 2026
Mike Papantonio strutted on a raised stage, his own face a hundred times larger than life on the screen behind him.
From Slate ● Jan. 13, 2026
When the ceremony began, Petri walked out to the song “I’ll Be There” by the Jackson 5, while Williams strutted out to “Ovunque Sarai” by Irama.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 29, 2025
The pair of chickens that pecked and strutted at the boys’ feet were also covered with the stuff.
From "The Interrupted Tale" by Maryrose Wood
“And then there’s some funny stuff too,” Dan explained, strutting around the store, with a sense of importance.
From Slate ● Aug. 14, 2026
The school drew parents like therapist Kavita Ramani and her computer-engineer husband, who delighted at the sight of their bright first-grader strutting with joy after a day at Tessellations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 30, 2026
New Yorkers can’t get enough of the strutting woodcock.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 9, 2026
If you can imagine the strutting Nicolas Cage and lithe Laura Dern of David Lynch’s “Wild at Heart” but with an apartment and a kid, that’s them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 3, 2026
A pigeon was strutting back and forth along the ledge outside as if it were keeping guard.
From "Stormbreaker" by Anthony Horowitz
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
