Vaunted Has Latin Roots

The verb vaunt has been used since the 15th century with the meaning "to make a vain display of one's own worth or attainments"-in other words, "to brag or boast." Over time, vaunt developed the meaning "to boast of (something)," as in "the promotional flier vaunts the natural beauty of the area," and gave rise to the adjectival form vaunted. The history of vaunt and vaunted leads back to the Latin word vanus, meaning "vain" or "empty." (The word vain itself is also a descendant of vanus.)

Examples of vaunted in a Sentence

The team's vaunted defense faltered in the second half of the game.

Recent Examples on the Web This is really where the vaunted Seaport neighborhood begins. — BostonGlobe.com, 26 May 2021 Amazon, whose stock is holding steady, is reportedly in talks to buy MGM, the vaunted film studio that was a staple of Hollywood's Golden Age. — Julia Horowitz, CNN, 26 May 2021 Arizona broke open a close game with a six-run eighth inning, punishing the Beavers’ vaunted pitching staff on the way to a 12-4 win in the opener of an important three-game series at Goss Stadium. — Joe Freeman, oregonlive, 22 May 2021 The Tel Aviv metropolitan area — home to the country’s stock exchange, its highest concentration of high-tech companies and its most vaunted cultural institutions — is among the last remaining bastions of Israeli liberals. — Washington Post, 19 May 2021 But sustaining this vaunted status has also required stop-start lockdown cycles, near-blanket bans on international travel and strict quarantine policies. — Michelle Fay Cortez, Fortune, 15 May 2021 But despite their representation at the A-level, until recently, true horse girls haven't exactly enjoyed a vaunted social status. — Eliza Huber, refinery29.com, 9 May 2021 For all of Cuomo’s vaunted emotional and social detachment, the man got people. — Jon Dolan, Rolling Stone, 7 May 2021 Williams Jeter was part of a vaunted 2002 UConn starting lineup that included Sue Bird, Swin Cash, Asjha Jones and Diana Taurasi -- arguably one of the best in women’s college basketball history. — Alexa Philippou, courant.com, 6 May 2021

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