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
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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:
He is a quality player with a strut and arrogance that singles him out from the rest.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
Whether or not you agree, “Power Surge” makes for a dense but rewarding narrative with its cast of CEOs and filmmakers who strut across—and occasionally fall off—the stage.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
The highlight is Danceteria - a sweat-soaked strut through the nightspot where Madonna launched her career.
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 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
But you shood a seen Joe Hooker strut.
From "Across Five Aprils" by Irene Hunt
As he strutted into the UConn locker room after the game, he had his arm slung around Mullins’s shoulders and only one word on his mind.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 30, 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
Last weekend in London's Soho Square he strutted against two dozen other men - and some women with drawn-on moustaches - in a catwalk contest to find the city's best "performative male".
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2025
Since the Espionage Act made it illegal to disclose the details of their work to the public, they fumed in silence while Hoover strutted around like a hero.
From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield
“And then there’s some funny stuff too,” Dan explained, strutting around the store, with a sense of importance.
From Slate ● Aug. 14, 2026
“All day, all the time, as if they’re players fretting and strutting on some invisible stage.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 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
And he is the only man who has decided to woo Miss Ann Burras with something other than bragging and strutting.
From "Blood on the River" by Elisa Carbone
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.
