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Vain vs Flamboyant - What's the difference?

vain | flamboyant |

As adjectives the difference between vain and flamboyant

is that vain is overly proud of oneself, especially concerning appearance; having a high opinion of one's own accomplishments with slight reason while flamboyant is showy, bold or audacious in behaviour, appearance, etc.

As a noun flamboyant is

a showy tropical tree, the royal poinciana (Delonix regia.

vain

English

Adjective

(en-adj)
  • Overly proud of oneself, especially concerning appearance; having a high opinion of one's own accomplishments with slight reason.
  • * (rfdate) Leo Rosten
  • Every writer is a narcissist. This does not mean that he is vain ; it only means that he is hopelessly self-absorbed.
  • Having no real substance, value, or importance; empty; void; worthless; unsatisfying.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • thy vain excuse
  • * Bible, (w) v. 6
  • Let no man deceive you with vain words.
  • * (John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • Vain wisdom all, and false philosophy.
  • Effecting no purpose; pointless, futile.
  • * (John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • Vain is the force of man / To crush the pillars which the pile sustain.
  • * (rfdate) William of Occam
  • It is vain to do with more what can be done with fewer.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers)
  • , chapter=6, title= A Cuckoo in the Nest , passage=But Sophia's mother was not the woman to brook defiance. After a few moments' vain remonstrance her husband complied. His manner and appearance were suggestive of a satiated sea-lion.}}
  • Showy; ostentatious.
  • * (Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)
  • Load some vain church with old theatric state.

    Synonyms

    * (overly proud of oneself) conceited; puffed up; inflated * (pointless) pointless, futile, fruitless, ineffectual * See also * See also

    Derived terms

    * in vain * vainness * vainly

    flamboyant

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Showy, bold or audacious in behaviour, appearance, etc.
  • * 1902 , ,
  • When we see some of the monstrous and flamboyant blossoms that enrich the equatorial woods, we do not feel that they are conflagrations of nature; silent explosions of her frightful energy. We simply find it hard to believe that they are not wax flowers grown under a glass case.
  • * 1920 , , Chapter VI: The Question of Clearness,
  • But a scorn of flamboyant neckties and checkerboard trousers is no excuse for going to the opposite extreme of a blue flannel shirt and overalls; .
  • * 1962 May 12, ,
  • The unbelievers will say they are but words, but a slogan, but a flamboyant phrase.
  • (architecture) Referred to as the final stage of French Gothic architecture from the 14th to the 16th centuries.
  • * 1891 , , Chapter XIX: Avignon,
  • S. Pierre is a flamboyant church, the details passing into Renaissance.
  • * 1911 , ,
  • The second is a chapel of two storeys, the lower dating from 1150, while the upper was rebuilt in the 15th century, and there is a rich Flamboyant entrance with a stairway (1533).
  • * 1913 , ,
  • The nave and central tower, more flamboyant in design, were finished early in the sixteenth century after the original plan.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A showy tropical tree, the royal poinciana (Delonix regia )
  • * 1919 ,
  • The schooners moored to the quay are trim and neat, the little town along the bay is white and urbane, and the flamboyants , scarlet against the blue sky, flaunt their colour like a cry of passion.