coquette

co·quette | \ kō-ˈket

plural coquettes

Definition of coquette

1 : a woman who endeavors without sincere affection to gain the attention and admiration of men … the book brought to mind a true Southern coquette, flashy and sweet and alluring all at the same time.— Tina Jordan

2 : any of several small, tropical American hummingbirds (genus Lophornis) with the males typically having a colorful or ornate tuft of feathers on the head … the rufous-crested coquette, a tiny hummingbird (with a red mohawk "hair-do") that was just as … flirty as its name.— Thelma Dalmas But the tiniest of these hummers was the one that elicited the most excitement: a festive coquette, an extremely rare green-crested bird with a white rump patch, only 3 inches long.— James F. McCarty

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Examples of coquette in a Sentence

She was a bit of a coquette.

Recent Examples on the Web Some will, most won’t, some hurt, most don’t — and that’s true for everyone, even coquettes. — Carolyn Hax, The Seattle Times, "A tomboy ponders playing the coquette," 27 Aug. 2018 The rufous-crested coquette was a bit of a disappointment. — Nell Zink, Harper's magazine, "The Bird Angle," 28 Oct. 2019 Cora Riley’s Sorel is a mirror image of her mom and a captivating coquette, while A.J. Sclafani’s Simon hurls lethal verbal volleys and flits about the room like an animated Peter Pan, alighting on the most unconventional locations. — Tom Titus, Daily Pilot, "On Theater: A hilarious “Hay Fever” at the Attic," 16 Sep. 2019 My reaction to playing the coquette involves a middle something else. — Carolyn Hax, The Seattle Times, "A tomboy ponders playing the coquette," 27 Aug. 2018 Within a couple of months, Khloé and TTD were coquettes about town, making out in numerous cities and posting photos of their matching sets of diamond rings (his from a championship, hers from being Khloé effing Kardashian) on the ‘Gram. — Mariah Smith, The Cut, "Let Me Lead You Through the Darkness of Khloé Kardashian and Tristan Thompson’s Relationship," 11 Apr. 2018 Sweet meets sour in the lemon meringue tart, which is fitting, given that the tart, ever the coquette, swings both sweet and sour. — Leah Eskin, chicagotribune.com, "Lemon meringue tart has everything — even whipped cream," 20 Mar. 2018 To this day, these hallowed watering holes make men want to hold doors open and women want to play the coquette, if only for one drink. — Pilar Guzmán, CNT, "Editor's Letter: A Good Drink and a Great Bar Can Define a Vacation," 11 July 2017 Quinn’s energetic Rodolfo and Mary Evelyn Hangley’s comical coquette of a Musetta helped make up for the stiffness of Edward Parks’ Marcello, who nevertheless sang well, as did Benjamin Sieverding during a memorable farewell to a coat. — Rob Hubbard, Twin Cities, "Minnesota Opera’s “La Boheme” transports to Paris via love and youthful energy," 7 May 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'coquette.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Last Updated

30 Dec 2019

Cite this Entry

“Coquette.” The Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster Inc., https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/coquettish. Accessed 24 January 2020.

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