Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Strutting; blustering; boasting.
  • noun The act of strutting; blustering; bravado.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb Present participle of swagger.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective having or showing arrogant superiority to and disdain of those one views as unworthy
  • adjective flamboyantly adventurous

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Good god Mike Skinner's affected cheeky chappy swaggering is annoying.

    The Streets wants to tell you something... (Music (For Robots)) 2006

  • (Laughter) All the little Italian generals came in swaggering around, and finally came Count Ciano looking very much like Prince Danilo of the "Merry Widow".

    The World From Westminster 1939

  • He came in swaggering, but, by George, he went out scratching!

    Three Times and Out: A Canadian Boy's Experience in Germany Nellie L. McClung 1918

  • The same bed-wetting Dem Senator – Harry Reid – who accused Bush of swaggering is swaggering about how the President isn’t doing enough to lead the way on Iran.

    Think Progress » Harry Reid: No Good Military Options in Iran 2006

  • He's swaggering, which is odd given how low is approval is.

    10/17/2007 2007

  • Middle-aged merchants have a great fancy for such horses; their action recalls the swaggering gait of a smart waiter; they do well in single harness for an after-dinner drive; with mincing paces and curved neck they zealously draw a clumsy droshky laden with an overfed coachman, a depressed, dyspeptic merchant, and his lymphatic wife, in a blue silk mantle, with a lilac handkerchief over her head.

    A Sportsman's Sketches 2003

  • Middle-aged merchants have a great fancy for such horses; their action recalls the swaggering gait of a smart waiter; they do well in single harness for an after-dinner drive; with mincing paces and curved neck they zealously draw a clumsy droshky laden with an overfed coachman, a depressed, dyspeptic merchant, and his lymphatic wife, in a blue silk mantle, with a lilac handkerchief over her head.

    A Sportsman's Sketches Works of Ivan Turgenev, Volume I Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev 1850

  • In addition to my impressions of the theatre and of Prague, now came those of the so-called swaggering undergraduate.

    My Life — Volume 1 Richard Wagner 1848

  • Ansari, who is best known as the swaggering Tom Haverford on NBC's CLOSE

    Slate Magazine Jessica Grose 2011

  • A half-admiring, half-nervous public quickly dubbed his swaggering and very personal style of government the Dadis Show, which was the name of a television programme in which the captain himself questioned and berated miscreants.

    The Economist: Correspondent's diary 2009

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