preen
1 Americanverb (used with object)
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(of animals, especially birds) to trim or dress (feathers, fur, etc.) with the beak or tongue.
The peacock preened itself on the lawn.
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to dress (oneself ) carefully or smartly; primp.
The king preened himself in his elaborate ceremonial robes.
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to pride (oneself ) on an achievement, personal quality, etc..
He preened himself on having graduated with honors.
verb (used without object)
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to make oneself appear striking or smart in dress or appearance.
No amount of careful preening will compensate for poor posture.
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to be exultant or proud.
noun
verb
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(of birds) to maintain (feathers) in a healthy condition by arrangement, cleaning, and other contact with the bill
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to dress or array (oneself) carefully; primp
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(usually foll by on) to pride or congratulate (oneself)
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
preensimple
-
preenssimple
-
have preenedperfect
-
has preenedperfect
-
am preeningprogressive
-
are preeningprogressive
-
is preeningprogressive
-
have been preeningperfect progressive
-
has been preeningperfect progressive
Past
-
preenedsimple
-
had preenedperfect
-
was preeningprogressive
-
were preeningprogressive
-
had been preeningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of preen1
1480–90; late Middle English prene, variant of Middle English prunen, proynen ( see prune 3), perhaps by association with prenen, to stab, pierce (v. use, now dial., of prene preen 2 ), from the pricking action of a bird's beak in preening
Origin of preen2
before 1000; Middle English prene, Old English prēon a pin; cognate with Old Norse prjōnn pin; akin to Dutch priem, German Pfreim awl
Explanation
When a bird or a cat preens, it smooths its feathers or cleans its fur. When you preen, you primp and pay careful attention to how you're dressed and groomed, as if you're inviting the whole world to watch you. You can also preen just by puffing yourself up and congratulating yourself for something. You've just landed your triple flip on the ski jump, and, as you swoosh to a stop at the foot of the hill and take off your skis, you preen as you make your way through the adoring crowd.
Vocabulary lists containing preen
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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:
He doesn’t peacock, he doesn’t preen; he is visibly angry with himself when he doesn’t produce.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
These days, pastel and fluorescent birds groom, preen and bicker in enclosures behind the home.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 4, 2026
Maybe it’s happiest tucked into a cast-iron skillet, going golden and jammy while the showier types preen in their baskets.
From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2025
It might be a bank holiday in the UK, but for the designers, publicists and PAs, it'll be an extraordinarily busy day as they preen and prepare their stars to walk the grand staircase.
From BBC ● May 4, 2025
At her gentlest touch he will preen, stretch, and open his mouth.
From "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison
Torelli is a great physical comic; even in wrist restraints, she preens.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 21, 2024
Davis preens as Mr. Calpito keeps his own legs suspended an inch off the ground for an excruciating amount of time and tells you that you should be doing the same.
From New York Times ● May 26, 2020
It swims and preens and eats, sure, but it will never migrate over the Korean Peninsula, or use its amazing plumage to flag down a mate as it would in the wild.
From Slate ● Feb. 11, 2019
The economist preens; the Shakespearean knows that “all scholarly endeavor was eventually . . . tucked . . . into endless paper beds, installed within tombstone covers and seldom disturbed.”
From The New Yorker ● Aug. 9, 2018
“Methinks she preens her feathers just for me,” Guildenstern boasted.
From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein
While that character, Fleur, primped and preened for an imagined camera as if on a livestream, she bragged about her “social media fluency” on an address to a “royal hiring academy.”
From New York Times ● Oct. 5, 2023
So if you happen to raise an orphan like we did with Alfie, that desire to be preened is very relatable.
From Salon ● Oct. 1, 2023
With a singular presence and a deeply personal cadence, he preened and strode, quipped, opined, demanded and screamed into many, many telephones.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 5, 2022
The performances viewers see are not mimed to a studio recording that was made in advance and preened to perfection with editing.
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2021
He moved onto her shoulder, and she preened his feathers.
From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston
But it’s tricky to maintain a balance between eliciting sympathy for the central duo and making sport of them, in all their preening garishness.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 10, 2025
He was preening for the press, warming to another of his vicious, incoherent jeremiads when his Canadian host suggested he join the others in a bit of work.
From Salon ● Jun. 22, 2025
That last is a sly point that’s been an enduring comic take of Hitler’s artistic preening.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 7, 2025
The “Oppenheimer” crowd were hardly the hardest partiers at the Vanity Fair post- Oscars party on Sunday night, but they hardly needed to be, their hardware did all the preening for them.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 11, 2024
She was preening her now silver-gray, black, and white feathers.
From "My Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
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.
