Meaning & use
vaunt
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Meanings
verbtransitivedisapproving
To talk with too much pride about your own achievements, qualities or possessions.
Grammar: Takes an object: vaunt his wealth, vaunt her skills.
Patterns
- vaunt something
- vaunt yourself
The politician loved to vaunt his role in the victory.
She never vaunted her family's wealth.
The advertisement vaunts the car's speed and comfort.
verbtransitiveformal
To praise something loudly or repeatedly, often more than it deserves.
Grammar: Mostly seen in the participle adjective vaunted, as in the much-vaunted plan.
Patterns
- much-vaunted
- highly vaunted
The much-vaunted new system crashed on its first day.
Critics questioned the vaunted benefits of the scheme.
The brochure vaunts the hotel's spectacular views.
nouncountablearchaicliterary
A proud boast or showy statement about oneself.
Grammar: Rare and old-fashioned; usually in literary writing.
Patterns
- make a vaunt of something
His vaunt of never having lost a game turned out to be false.
The poem is filled with the vaunts of warriors.
She made no vaunt of her skill.
Word forms
| third person singular | vaunts |
|---|---|
| past tense | vaunted |
| past participle | vaunted |
| -ing form | vaunting |
Common combinations
- much-vaunted
- The much-vaunted reform never arrived.
- vaunt your achievements
- He liked to vaunt his achievements at every dinner.
- vaunted skill
- The team's vaunted skill failed under pressure.
- vaunt wealth
- They avoided vaunting their wealth.
- vaunted claim
- The company's vaunted claims were checked by experts.
Synonyms and how they differ
- boast
- Boast is the ordinary word for talking proudly, while vaunt is more formal and literary.
- brag
- Brag is informal and often sounds childish, whereas vaunt feels older and more serious.
- flaunt
- Flaunt means to show something off openly, often by display, while vaunt is mainly done in words.
- trumpet
- Trumpet means to announce something loudly and proudly, often about news, and can be neutral.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: vaunt or vault? vaunt or flaunt?
vaunt vs vault
Vault means to jump over something or a secure room for valuables, and sounds somewhat similar.
vaunt vs flaunt
Flaunt means to display something to attract attention, while vaunt is mostly about praising it in words.
Practice
The brochure ____ the hotel's famous sea views, yet our room faced a car park.
Choose one answer.
Vaunts means praises boastfully. Vaults, vanquishes and vanishes have different meanings and do not fit an advertisement.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “vaunt”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.