“flaunt” vs. “flout”
Use "flaunt" for showing off something proudly, and "flout" for openly disregarding or defying a rule, law, or convention.
flaunt
"Flaunt" is a verb meaning to show off something ostentatiously, to display it proudly and often excessively ("flaunt her new car"). Its exact origin is uncertain — etymologists have proposed links to Scandinavian words for strutting or wandering about, but no single source is definitively confirmed, an honest gap in the historical record for a word that only entered English in the 1500s.
flout
"Flout" is a verb meaning to openly disregard or show contempt for a rule, law, or convention ("flout the regulations"). It likely comes from a Dutch or Middle English word related to playing the flute mockingly, or possibly a dialectal pronunciation of "flute" used to mean sneering or mocking someone with a whistling sound — again, the etymology is genuinely uncertain, but the mocking, contemptuous sense has been consistent since the word's earliest recorded uses.
The real distinction
"Flaunt" and "flout" are unrelated in origin but close enough in sound and spelling that they're one of the most frequently swapped verb pairs in English, and the error is compounded by a widely repeated but genuinely mistaken belief that "flaunt" can mean "to flout," as in the common misuse "flaunting the rules" when the writer means openly breaking or ignoring them. The correct distinction: "flaunt" is about showing off, displaying something proudly, often with a whiff of vanity or excess, while "flout" is about defiance, openly and often contemptuously disregarding a rule or expectation. A useful test: if the sentence is about displaying wealth, beauty, success, or possessions, you need "flaunt"; if it's about breaking or disregarding a law, rule, or social norm, you need "flout." The phrase "if you've got it, flaunt it" is a genuinely correct, well-known idiom about showing off, while "flouting the law" is the correct phrase for openly defying legal rules — swapping these two idioms shows up so often in usage guides and editors' error lists that it has become something of a textbook example, in part because the mistaken "flaunting the law" has become so common in casual speech and even some published writing that many readers no longer notice it as wrong. Legal and regulatory writing relies specifically on "flout" to describe willful, open noncompliance (flouting safety codes, flouting court orders), a register where "flaunt" would be a clear, sometimes reputation-damaging error for a publication to make. Because both words are moderately formal and don't appear constantly in casual conversation, many writers simply haven't had enough repeated exposure to either word to build a strong instinct for the correct spelling, which is part of why this pair persists as a common error even among otherwise careful writers.
Examples with “flaunt”
- She loves to flaunt her new sports car around town.
- He flaunted his promotion to anyone who would listen.
- The celebrity flaunted her designer wardrobe on social media.
- They flaunted their wealth at every opportunity.
- He flaunted his knowledge of wine at the dinner party.
- The company flaunted its record profits in the annual report.
- She flaunted her engagement ring to her coworkers.
- The team flaunted their championship trophy during the parade.
Examples with “flout”
- The factory openly flouted safety regulations for years.
- He flouted the dress code by wearing sneakers to the gala.
- The company was fined for flouting environmental laws.
- She flouted convention by skipping the formal ceremony entirely.
- The driver flouted traffic laws throughout the entire chase.
- They flouted the curfew despite repeated warnings.
- The restaurant flouted health codes and was shut down.
- He flouted the judge's order and was held in contempt.
Memory trick
"Flaunt" rhymes with "want," and showing off is often about wanting others to notice and admire you. "Flout" rhymes with "about," and to flout a rule is to act about, or around, it as though it doesn't apply to you. If the sentence is about pride and display, reach for "flaunt"; if it's about breaking rules with open contempt, reach for "flout" — and remember that "flouting the law" is the only correct pairing of the two idioms, never "flaunting the law."