flout
- to treat with disdain, scorn, or contempt; scoff at; mock: to flout the rules of propriety.
- to show disdain, scorn, or contempt; scoff, mock, or gibe (often followed by at).
- a disdainful, scornful, or contemptuous remark or act; insult; gibe.
Origin of flout
Usage note
Related Words for flout
spurn, repudiate, defy, scorn, disregard, mock, gibe, quip, slight, taunt, jeer, ridicule, scoff, insult, outrage, gird, deride, sneer, affrontExamples from the Web for flout
Contemporary Examples of flout
It was a big story—indicating that Israel was continuing to flout international law to prevent Hezbollah from getting weapons.
Republicans could flout their own resentments and true believers.
He chose the country and let Alice flout contemporary morals, carousing and smoking in public.
Historical Examples of flout
Beneath the car of this Juggernaut we must flout our judgments and crush our affections.
The Conquest of FearBasil King
I know not what the world is coming to, when young maids may flout their elders.
The White CompanyArthur Conan Doyle
Niagara, however, might flout them if it pleased; they could do without Niagara.
Marriage la modeMrs. Humphry Ward
Bessie did not pout or flout when neither Levi nor her father appeared to receive her.
Freaks of FortuneOliver Optic
The Gentiles, who are neither proud nor intellectual, spit upon him and flout him.
William ShakespeareJohn Masefield
flout
- (when intr, usually foll by at) to show contempt (for); scoff or jeer (at)
Word Origin for flout
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Word Origin and History for flout
1550s, perhaps a special use of Middle English flowten "to play the flute" (cf. Middle Dutch fluyten "to play the flute," also "to jeer"). Related: Flouted; flouting.