‘Flaunt’ and ‘flout’

Quick, but useful tip on word usage. Right up there with Shutter and Shudder.

Hannah McCall

I am always surprised by the number of people who supposedly flaunt rules.

Flaunt

• to display ostentatiously

Flout

• to deliberately disobey or to display contempt for

The misuse is so widespread that, according to the Oxford English Corpus, the second and third commonest objects of flaunt are law and rules. The commonest object is wealth. Although the wrong use has been prevalent since the 1940s, it was not seen before the 20th century.

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