"Flaunt" vs. "flout": possible error?
Posted by:
Jack Miller (---.c3-0.arl-ubr1.sbo-arl.ma.cable.rcn.com)
I was just rereading my New English Library paperback edition and noticed that, at the beginning of chapter 31, the UA of W Cat refers to "the most publicised flaunting of these rules..."
I assumed that the Cat meant "flouting," of course, since to flaunt means "to exhibit ostentatiously" and to flout is "to show contempt for"-- but actually I just poked around a bit and found that the American Heritage Dictionary officially acknowledges that "for some time now flaunt has been used in the sense 'to show contempt for,' even by educated users of English." It does note, however, that "this usage is still widely seen as erroneous and is best avoided," so maybe this is a candidate for a future upgrade after all.
[
dictionary.reference.com]