prance
Americanverb (used without object)
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prances,
present (3rd person singular)
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pranced,
past participle, past
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prancing
present participle
-
to spring from the hind legs; to move by springing, as a horse.
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to ride on a horse doing this.
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to ride gaily, proudly, or insolently.
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to move or go in an elated manner; cavort.
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to dance or move in a lively or spirited manner; caper.
verb (used with object)
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prances,
present (3rd person singular)
-
pranced,
past participle, past
-
prancing
present participle
noun
verb
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(intr) to swagger or strut
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(intr) to caper, gambol, or dance about
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(intr)
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(of a horse) to move with high lively springing steps
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to ride a horse that moves in this way
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-
(tr) to cause to prance
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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prancesimple
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prancessimple
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have prancedperfect
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has prancedperfect
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am prancingprogressive
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are prancingprogressive
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is prancingprogressive
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have been prancingperfect progressive
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has been prancingperfect progressive
Past
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prancedsimple
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had prancedperfect
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was prancingprogressive
-
were prancingprogressive
-
had been prancingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of prance
1325–75; Middle English prauncen, praunsen (v.); akin to Danish (dial.) pransk spirited, said of a horse
Explanation
When you prance, you swagger around with exaggerated, proud movements. If you've seen many rock concerts, you've seen people prance around onstage. When people prance, they're showing off, strutting for the benefit of their audience. Horses prance too, with a gait that's also a little artificial, using high, springy steps. You might prance a little when you run up on stage to accept an award, and a show horse might be equally inclined to prance as it moves past the judges. The horse gait definition is the original meaning of prance, and it probably comes from the Middle English pranken, "to show off."
Vocabulary lists containing prance
Horsin' Around
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Charlotte's Web
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This Feb. 29: 15 Words for "Leap"
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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:
The kids prance around the yard quoting “Macbeth” a decade before he’ll stage it and Mescal gets to recite a “Hamlet” soliloquy as a little treat.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 25, 2025
Some people take this stuff way too seriously and kind of prance around the ring.
From Salon ● Apr. 23, 2024
That’s why they were in position to prance jubilantly off the field when Dunlap thwarted Garoppolo’s fourth-down, last-gasp effort to add to the litany of painful finishes for the Seahawks this season.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 5, 2021
“I do like dressing up and wearing full makeup. Because who doesn’t want to prance through the woods and feel like a woman fairy? But some of it is definitely about looking super-approachable,” she said.
From New York Times ● Jul. 30, 2021
“Yours truly trusts that a modicum of caution will he exercised in the prance, to prevent delivery of uncomfortable blows to the posterior of the forequarters?”
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
But we come to love Ava’s BFF Danica, who prances into obvious death traps wearing flimsy silver mules.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 2025
Mousseau said the team has grown close to some dogs, naming one Prancer because she excitedly prances around when she sees people.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 3, 2023
In The Unseen Queen, the BBC's beautiful documentary of family-filmed footage of the young princess, Lilibet prances and dances, pranks and laughs.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2022
And sometimes Mitski’s charming prances around the stage in her flowy dress or pantomimed door-knocking in “Should’ve Been Me” warranted a snapshot.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 29, 2022
She prances about, swishing her gown left and right, beaming brighter than a morning-lantern as she waits for us to gush over her.
From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton
I could see his wild imagination at work and his interest in being an entertainer as he pranced around the house doing Elvis impersonations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 11, 2025
Like Carrie’s playful tiptoe stride through the streets in heels, the show pranced around topics that, had it walked through them with intention, would have given the series traces of its former self.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2025
As a crowd of spectators cheered, some of the sheep pranced.
From New York Times ● Jan. 21, 2024
Ramirez’s 4-year-old daughter - who pranced behind her mother, blowing bubbles and popping the ones that landed in her brown curls - has a lung condition.
From Washington Times ● Dec. 24, 2023
The last were the most popular—the boys pranced round shrieking with laughter and throwing the crackers about everywhere, yet they were nimble enough to skip out of harm’s way.
From "Nectar in a Sieve" by Kamala Markandaya
On May 14, almost exactly 43 years later, the track was No. 1 again, prancing to the top of Spotify’s global chart following the release of the biopic “Michael.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 3, 2026
The beige and blue mosaic of a prancing bull surrounded by a coat of arms is located in the city's historic 19th-Century Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II arcade.
From BBC ● May 29, 2026
Yet the brand with the prancing horse logo took several years before deciding to throw its hat into the all-electric ring.
From Barron's ● May 26, 2026
Suddenly, the rock god who only three years prior hit his commercial apex with “Let’s Dance,” a master of artistic shapeshifting who pioneered music videos long before MTV existed, was prancing around with Muppets.
From Salon ● Jan. 24, 2026
I ain’t no flunky to be prancing around the countryside just waiting to get bit.
From "Dread Nation" by Justina Ireland
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.
