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vaunt

[vawnt, vahnt]
verb (used with object)
  1. to speak vaingloriously of; boast of: to vaunt one's achievements.
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verb (used without object)
  1. to speak boastfully; brag.
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noun
  1. a boastful action or utterance.
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Origin of vaunt

1350–1400; Middle English vaunten < Middle French vanter to boast < Late Latin vānitāre, frequentative of *vānāre, derivative of Latin vānus vain. See vanity
Related formsvaunt·er, nounvaunt·ing·ly, adverbout·vaunt, verb (used with object)
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for vauntingly

Historical Examples

  • This, I set down not vauntingly, but fully realizing what I owe to Heaven.

    Lords of the North

    A. C. Laut

  • She did not say this so vauntingly as she had made the assertion at first.

    Woman in Prison

    Caroline H. Woods

  • It ended the discussion which the South so vauntingly provoked.

  • Vauntingly Farmer Perkins told how he had haltered the vicious colt.

    Horses Nine

    Sewell Ford

  • The two men gazed thoughtfully into the little flame which vauntingly struggled to rear itself in the dense atmosphere.

British Dictionary definitions for vauntingly

vaunt

verb
  1. (tr) to describe, praise, or display (one's success, possessions, etc) boastfully
  2. (intr) rare, or literary to use boastful language; brag
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noun
  1. a boast
  2. archaic ostentatious display
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Derived Formsvaunter, noun

Word Origin

C14: from Old French vanter, from Late Latin vānitāre to brag, from Latin vānus vain
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for vauntingly

vaunt

v.

c.1400, "speak vainly or proudly," from Middle French vanter "to praise, speak highly of," from Late Latin vanitare "to boast," frequentative of Latin vanare "to utter empty words," from vanus "idle, empty" (see vain). Related: Vaunted; vaunting.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper