flounce1
/flaʊns
/verb [no object, with adverbial of direction]
Go or move in an exaggeratedly impatient or angry manner: he stood up in a fury and flounced out...
- As the others flounced and stamped their way through the jungle, Blackburn's equable temper won through.
- I didn't know what last time was, but it had to have been bad because Kara's face colored and she seemed at a loss for words, picking to flounce off in a fury instead.
- Making an angry noise, she turned and flounced out to the carriage.
Synonyms
storm, stride angrily, sweep, stomp, stamp, march, strut, stalk
noun [in singular]
An exaggerated action intended to express annoyance or impatience: she left the room with a flounce...
- Seryna's distaste, while initially borne from Visbec's flounce and flirtatious mannerisms, had grown with an infatuation for Naoise.
Origin
Mid 16th century: perhaps of Scandinavian origin and related to Norwegian flunsa 'hurry', or perhaps symbolic, like bounce or pounce.
Rhymes
flounce2
/flaʊns/noun
A wide ornamental strip of material gathered and sewn to a skirt or dress; a frill.Miss Howitt's dress was in the height of fashion; blue silk spencer over a white round dress with several flounces at the hem, complemented by a yellow paisley shawl draped over her shoulders....
- Ruffle necklines are big too, as well as fluted sleeves, hem flounces and ruched side panels.
- While Tisci focused on black and oyster, Lacroix used a vast array of colors and along with the rich details of beads, laces, corsets, flounces and satin.
Synonyms
frill, ruffle, ruff, peplum, jabot, furbelow, ruche, ruching, gather, tuck, fringe
archaic purfle
verb (as adjective flounced)
Trimmed with a flounce or flounces: a flounced skirt...
- Women's attire consists of solid-colored or polka-dot dresses with tightly fitted bodices and flounced skirts and sleeves.
- Try dressing your room with wicker baskets, and look for flounced or ruffled curtains, tablecloths and bedding.
- The Zebra's stripes are revealed by pulling strips from a white flounced dress.
Derivatives
flouncy
- The designers decided that the new trend was ‘High Femininity’: girly, pretty, flouncy and frilly clothes.
- This season, the designer has added even more romantic details such as layers, mixes of textures, floral patterns, slinky fabrics, and turns out a surprising array of flouncy skirts, skinny jeans and flippy dresses.
- Rag trade insiders say designs will go retro once more, taking their inspiration from the 1970s and the New Romantics of the 1980s, with frills and flouncy, folk-inspired long skirts.
Origin
Early 18th century: from an alteration of obsolete frounce 'a fold or pleat', from Old French fronce, of Germanic origin; related to ruck2.