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
At the same time, I did have secondhand embarrassment watching DeChambeau strut around Augusta National in LIV-issue Crushers gear that made him look like the fry guy at a discount burger chain.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 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
That only encouraged them to gobble and strut around, and Ma Charles got a big kick out of that.
From "Gone Crazy in Alabama" by Rita Williams-Garcia
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
The squad emerged from the coach wearing re-released replica away shirts from the 'Entertainers' era, when the Magpies strutted into stadiums up and down the country.
From BBC ● Jan. 28, 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
After a moment or two, the bird strutted forward a few paces, and so the man was able to see more of its body.
From "The Girl Who Married a Lion: and Other Tales from Africa" by Alexander Mccall Smith
Soon after, the Commander in Chief appeared, joined by White, strutting into the premises with a fighter-style entry walk.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 15, 2026
New Yorkers can’t get enough of the strutting woodcock.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 9, 2026
Other tracks include “Just a Little,” strutting to a Rolling Stones-ish riff, and the bluesy, moody “Go on Down to Mobile,” with a brief but searing guitar solo that is recognizably his.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2025
On the strutting, guitar-driven Somebody To You, she waves goodbye to a suffocating relationship and asks: "Who am I when I'm out of your sight?"
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2025
Except my heron, he was strutting out into the world like that hunter would never, never come.
From "Okay for Now" by Gary D. Schmidt
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.
