flounce

present singular third person flounces · participle present flouncing · participle past flounced · past flounced

1. To move in a bouncy, exaggerated manner.

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   There was a continual coming and going of flouncing, pig-tailed forms, until the table was closely covered with dishes, scarlet curries with surface currents of ochreous oil, three varieties of what looked like seaweed (inevitably recommended as abundant in vitamins), a paste made of ground beans and chillis...

   1952, Norman Lewis, Golden Earth

2. To depart in a dramatic, haughty way that draws attention to oneself.

   After failing to win the leadership election, he flounced dramatically.

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   A-flutter with excitement, she turned the handle. In a moment she flounced back, red with shame and anger—flounced forth from the fairest, whitest, dapperest dairy, wherein was all of the best that the keenest dairy-maid might need.

   1911 October 26, Max Beerbohm, Zuleika Dobson, or, An Oxford Love Story, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: John Lane Company, published 1912, →OCLC

   'Oh certainly,' retorted Tinette impudently, as she flounced out of the room.

   1956 [1880], Johanna Spyri, Heidi, translation of original by Eileen Hall, page 67

   You got your ass kicked and instead of admitting you might have made a mistake, you flounced.

   2002 September 9, PButler111, “Re: OT - Sept. 11th?”, in alt.fan.barry-manilow (Usenet)

   But love Mensch or hate her, don't buy the line that she merely got bored and flounced: for whatever else she achieved in politics, she was never exactly stuck for ways to make it interesting.

   2012 August 7, Gaby Hinsliff, “The lessons of Louise Mensch's departure? There are none”, in The Guardian

   In 1946, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) was established to regulate whale stocks and “make possible the orderly development of the whaling industry”. It attempted to impose quotas and move the industry toward something more sustainable. This proved difficult, so the IWC simply gave up and imposed a moratorium on whaling altogether. Some countries flounced out in a huff; others had never joined in the first place.

   2025 September 11, Kate Marvel, “‘We’ve done it before’: how not to lose hope in the fight against ecological disaster”, in The Guardian

3. archaicTo flounder; to make spastic motions.

   To flutter and flounce will do nothing but batter and bruise us.

   a. 1678 (date written), Isaac Barrow, “(please specify the chapter name or sermon number)”, in The Works of Dr. Isaac Barrow. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: A[braham] J[ohn] Valpy, […], published 1830–1831, →OCLC

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   With his broad fins and forky tail he laves / The rising surge, and flounces in the waves.

   1717, Joseph Addison, Metamorphoses

4. businessTo decorate with a flounce.

plural flounces

1. businessA strip of decorative material, usually pleated, attached along one edge; a ruffle.

   Then he looked from her to some gayer figures moving along the road with flutters of bright streamers and flounces

   1900, Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman, The Love of Parson Lord: And Other Stories, page 25

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   Mind you, clothes were clothes in those days. […] Frills, ruffles, flounces, lace, complicated seams and gores: not only did they sweep the ground and have to be held up in one hand elegantly as you walked along, but they had little capes or coats or feather boas.

   1977, Agatha Christie, chapter 4, in An Autobiography, part II, London: Collins, →ISBN

2. The act of flouncing; a dramatic departure.

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   Emma Watson’s approach is in stark contrast to that of Daniel Day-Lewis; a man who, despite being the greatest actor on earth, is somewhat prone to a flounce. […] Day-Lewis announced that he had retired from acting, putting out a statement that read: “Daniel Day-Lewis will no longer be working as an actor.”

   2025 September 24, Stuart Heritage, “Go quietly and get a side hustle: how to quit acting properly”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

3. A row of corrugations, skin folds, or spines, on the hemipenis of a snake.