panache

noun

pa·​nache pə-ˈnash  -ˈnäsh 

1

: an ornamental tuft (as of feathers) especially on a helmet

The palace guard had a panache on his helmet.

2

: dash or flamboyance in style and action : verve

flashed his … smile and waved with the panache of a big-city mayor

—Joe Morgenstern

Illustration of panache

• panache 1

Did you know?

Few literary characters can match the panache of French poet and soldier Cyrano de Bergerac, from Edmond Rostand’s 1897 play of the same name. In his dying moments, Cyrano declares that the one thing left to him is his panache, and that assertion at once demonstrates the meaning of the word and draws upon its history. In both French and English, panache (which traces back to Late Latin pinnaculum, “small wing”) originally referred to a showy, feathery plume on a hat or helmet; our familiar figurative sense debuted in the first English translation of Rostand’s play, which made the literal plume a metaphor for Cyrano’s unflagging verve even in death. In a 1903 speech Rostand himself described panache: “A little frivolous perhaps, most certainly a little theatrical, panache is nothing but a grace which is so difficult to retain in the face of death, a grace which demands so much strength that, all the same, it is a grace … which I wish for all of us.”

Examples of panache in a Sentence

She played the role of hostess with great panache.

Recent Examples on the Web

Read: The sincerity and absurdity of Hollywood’s best action franchise Where De Palma and Woo focused on visual panache, Abrams and Bird stretched the limits of tone—and in doing so, revealed the adaptability of the franchise. —Shirley Li, The Atlantic, 31 May 2025

By the 1920s, AC’s scalability and standardized grids had prevailed, stripping electrons of their branding—utilities now competed on price, not panache. —Christian Catalini, Forbes.com, 29 Apr. 2025

The press, however, was quick to note that Buckley didn’t quite have Vreeland’s panache (though few did). —Lilah Ramzi, Vogue, 28 Apr. 2025

But the writer-director duo lend it all a certain deadpan panache that’s diverting even when the material is less than inspired. —Dennis Harvey, Variety, 4 Mar. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle French pennache, from Old Italian pennacchio, from Late Latin pinnaculum small wing — more at pinnacle

First Known Use

1553, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for panache

• backwash
• downwash
• mouthwash
• outwash
• whitewash
• bosh
• frosh
• gosh
• josh
• posh
• quash
• slosh

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