flamboyant1
/flamˈbɔɪənt
/adjective
1(Of a person or their behaviour) tending to attract attention because of their exuberance, confidence, and stylishness: the band’s flamboyant lead singer...
- So tearing my eyes away, I paid attention to what my flamboyant friend was saying.
- Fitting his flamboyant personality, he led the way with his own choice of costume, a rainbow-coloured cope and mitre, which he had designed and made for the occasion.
- Whilst the guitarist needs to suffer for his art more and lose the baseball cap, you only notice this because their singer is a flamboyant individual.
Synonyms
ostentatious, exuberant, confident, lively, buoyant, animated, energetic, vibrant, vivacious, extravagant, theatrical, showy, swashbuckling, dashing, rakish
informal over the top (OTT), fancy-pants
1.1Bright, colourful, and very noticeable: a flamboyant bow tie...
- These vibrant colours and flamboyant designs distinguished Art Deco from previous artistic styles, along with its respect for Japanese heritage and its contribution to modernism.
- The atmosphere was electric as they took to the stage in bright glittering and flamboyant costumes.
- Drag is so colourful, so flamboyant, so sellable - that the complicating factors of class, race, and politics seem like, well, a drag.
Synonyms
colourful, brilliantly coloured, brightly coloured, bright, rich, vibrant, vivid;
exciting, dazzling, eye-catching, bold, splendid, resplendent, glamorous;
showy, gaudy, garish, lurid, loud, flashy, brash, ostentatious
informal jazzy
dated gay
2 Architecture Of or denoting a style of French Gothic architecture marked by wavy flame-like tracery and ornate decoration. Compare with rayonnant.To house his accumulation of art and curiosities he bought the hôtel of the abbots of Cluny that had been built in the flamboyant Gothic style around 1500....
- There are many more examples of this type of flamboyant ironwork tracery sufficient to indicate that the style was rooted in the Low Countries.
- They rebuilt the old basilica into a grand, very flamboyant Gothic edifice.
Synonyms
elaborate, ornate, fancy;
baroque, rococo, arabesque
Derivatives
flamboyantly
/ adverb ...- He had scruffy dark hair and was dressed flamboyantly, his bright clothes meticulously selected for their colour coordination, if not for their aesthetic appeal.
- Everyone knows that there are two types of people in the world: those who grew up wanting to be flamboyantly famous rock stars, and those who wanted to be lawyers or doctors.
- When the credits rolled, we walked out to the lobby and ran into yet another flamboyantly gay couple - hey, it was Steve and Sean!
Origin
Mid 19th century: from French, literally 'flaming, blazing', present participle of flamboyer, from flambe 'a flame'.
flagrant from Late Middle English:
Early senses of flagrant with meanings such as ‘glorious’ and ‘blazing’ were positive. The word comes from the Latin word flagrare ‘to blaze’, as in conflagration (Late Middle English), and is recorded from the late 15th century. Flamboyant (mid 19th century) and flame (Middle English) itself go back to the same root. The Latin original is also found in the phrase in flagrante (delicto) literally ‘in blazing crime’, and usually used to mean that someone has been caught in bed with someone else's partner.
Rhymes
flamboyant2
/flamˈbɔɪənt/noun
A Madagascan tree with bright red flowers and leaves composed of numerous leaflets, planted as a street tree in the tropics.
- Delonix regia, family Leguminosae.
- Hard landscaped except for an array of flamboyants (a local tropical tree with luxurious orange blossom), the courtyard marks the gradual transition between public and private realms.
- There are several flamboyants to be found around the city.
Origin
Late 19th century: probably a noun use of the French adjective flamboyant 'blazing' (see flamboyant1).