flout
pronunciation
How to pronounce flout in British English:
UK [flaʊt]
How to pronounce flout in American English:
US [flaʊt]
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- Verb:
- treat with contemptuous disregard
- laugh at with contempt and derision
Word Origin
- flout (v.)
- "treat with disdain or contempt" (transitive), 1550s, intransitive sense "mock, jeer, scoff" is from 1570s; of uncertain origin; perhaps a special use of Middle English flowten "to play the flute" (compare Middle Dutch fluyten "to play the flute," also "to jeer"). Related: Flouted; flouting.
Example
- 1. She was not a rebel out to flout authority or change the rules .
- 2. And too many countries , including the euro zone 's biggest members , were allowed to flout the rules with impunity .
- 3. In the wealthy north of the capital , tehran , many flout the regime 's favoured dreary , functional look .
- 4. Countries flout the rules as long as they do not perceive them as national imperatives .
- 5. The problem is the regulations do not specify punishments for businesses or individuals who flout them .