flamboyant

1 of 2

adjective

flam·​boy·​ant flam-ˈbȯi-ənt 

1

: marked by or given to strikingly elaborate or colorful display or behavior that attracts attention

a flamboyant performer

… the women and girls clad in dismal … dresses that made us Presbyterians seem almost flamboyant.

—Sue Monk Kidd

2

often Flamboyant : characterized by waving curves suggesting flames

flamboyant tracery

flamboyant architecture

flamboyantly adverb

flamboyant

2 of 2

noun

: royal poinciana

Did you know?

Associate the word flamboyant with bananas flambé and the word’s fiery etymology will be seared in your mind. Flamboyant, which was borrowed into English from French in the 19th century, can be traced back to the Old French word flambe, meaning “flame.” In its earliest uses flamboyant referred to an ornate style of Gothic architecture popular in France and Spain, which featured waving curves suggestive of flames. Eventually, the word developed a more general second sense for anything eye-catching or showy. And of course, flambe is also the origin of the English adjective flambé, which describes food flamboyantly dressed or served with flaming liquor.

Synonyms of flamboyant

Adjective

• prominent
• noticeable
• dramatic
• commanding
• remarkable
• impressive
• showy
• striking

Examples of flamboyant in a Sentence

Adjective

Crazy artists, or flamboyant ones, can be strangely comforting. We feel we understand where their visions come from; we're lulled by the symmetry of turbulent art and turbulent lives. —Stephen Schiff, New Yorker, 28 Dec. 1992–4 Jan. 1993

Equally flamboyant is the group's singer, Andy Bell, who prances around the stage dressed at various times like an astronaut, a space creature or a Mexican senorita. —Jim Farber, Video Review, August 1990

… he was living in the flamboyant, urbane manner he craved, in an apartment that suited his Balzacian fantasies of success … —Raymond Sokolov, Wayward Reporter, 1980

the flamboyant gestures of the conductor

has a gallery of flamboyant gestures that makes him easy to imitate

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

Unlike other Republican lawmakers, Lombardo has also shied away from the provocations and flamboyant pugilism of the MAGA movement. — Los Angeles Times, 25 Oct. 2026

Witty, bitter, flamboyant, and emotionally grounded, the dialogue swings, delightfully, between intimate exchanges and grandiloquent soliloquies, capturing the vulnerability of idealists in the face of evil. — Emily Nussbaum, New Yorker, 23 Oct. 2026

That’s because the invasive lionfish—flamboyant enough that Bowman likens it to a Mardi Gras drag queen—wasn’t traditionally on the menu. — Victoria Malloy, Time, 21 Oct. 2026

The plants and fungi in his garden had dried up, and summer puddles, with their flamboyant biological complexity, had long frozen over. — Molly Herring, Quanta Magazine, 21 Oct. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Adjective and Noun

French, from present participle of flamboyer to flame, from Old French, from flambe

First Known Use

Adjective

1832, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Noun

1879, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for flamboyant

• clairvoyant
• buoyant

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Kids Definition

flamboyant

adjective

flam·​boy·​ant

flam-ˈbȯi-ənt

: tending to make a striking display : showy

flamboyantly adverb