Quote:
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Originally Posted by QuikSand
Example usage:
The North Koreans' continued use of nuclear testing was clearly intended to flaunt international organizations.
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The word you want here is flout, not flaunt.
To flout is to defy... to flaunt is to show off. It's actually not that subtle a difference, though I'd estimate that 80% or more of the people who seek to use the word "flout" end up incorrectly using the word "flaunt" instead.
This could end up becoming another one of these "language evolution" debates -- as in time, some dictionaries might start to include a secondary usage of "flaunt" to mean "to defy." It still doesn't make it right -- the word to use is "flout," period. |
Of course, people could avoid this error by using the word "defy" when they want to use a word that means "defy."