swagger

¹swag·ger

verb \ˈswa-gər\

swag·geredswag·ger·ing \-g(ə-)riŋ\

Definition of SWAGGER

intransitive verb

1

: to conduct oneself in an arrogant or superciliously pompous manner; especially : to walk with an air of overbearing self-confidence

2

: boast, brag

transitive verb

: to force by argument or threat : bully

— swag·ger·er \-gər-ər\ noun

— swag·ger·ing·ly \-g(ə-)riŋ-lē\ adverb

Examples of SWAGGER

1. <I, too, would swagger if I'd won first place in the bowling tournament.>
2. <hoping to impress the women at the bar, the young man confidently swaggered across the room>
3. He copped a plea, ratted out a dozen no-neck pals and swaggered off to prison, leaving South Beach temporarily without a pied piper. —Carl Hiaasen, New York Times Book Review, 22 Feb. 2009
4. So it is a fight rather than an argument, really—a fight over complexity versus ease, a fight that mostly mimics gang war, which is not so much a vigorous instance of manly bloodletting (though it is that too) as a dustup over prestige: who has the prior right to swagger in public. —Cynthia Ozick, Harper's, April 2007
5. Sometimes he sauntered through the streets of the old town. He looked with awe at the students of the corps, their cheeks gashed and red, who swaggered about in their coloured caps. —W. Somerset Maugham, Of Human Bondage, 1915

Origin of SWAGGER

probably from ¹swag + -er (as in chatter)

First Known Use: circa 1596

Related to SWAGGER

Synonyms: blow, brag, bull [slang], crow, gasconade, boast, vapor, vaunt

Related Words: bluster, harangue, puff; pride; gush; exult, glory, rejoice; brandish, display, exhibit, expose, flaunt, glorify, parade, show off; magnify, maximize

Near Antonyms: belittle, deprecate, diminish, discount, laugh off, minimize, play down, pooh-pooh (also pooh), shrug off, underrate, undervalue; bemoan, lament, mourn, regret

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Rhymes with SWAGGER

bagger, bragger, dagger, dragger, gagger, jagger, lagger, nagger, sagger, stagger, wagger