panache

[ puh-nash, -nahsh ]

noun

1. a grand or flamboyant manner; verve; style; flair:

   The actor who would play Cyrano must have panache.

2. an ornamental plume of feathers, tassels, or the like, especially one worn on a helmet or cap.
3. Architecture. the surface of a pendentive.

panache

/ -ˈnɑːʃ; pəˈnæʃ /

noun

1. a dashing manner; style; swagger

   he rides with panache

2. a feathered plume on a helmet

Word History and Origins

Origin of panache¹

First recorded in 1545–55; variant (after French ) of pennache, from Middle French, from early Italian pennachio, from Late Latin pinnāculum, diminutive of pinna “wing”; identical in form with pinnāculum “roof gable, peak”; pinnacle

Word History and Origins

Origin of panache¹

C16: via French from Old Italian pennacchio, from Late Latin pinnāculum feather, from Latin pinna feather; compare Latin pinnāculum pinnacle

Example Sentences

Fischinger, though hardly unknown, emerges as a standout in the exhibition, the geometric complexities of his paintings and films maintaining a high level of sophisticated panache.

From Los Angeles Times

Accumulating 400 total bases in a season doesn’t have the panache of, say, batting .400.

From Los Angeles Times

Instead, he continued to turn in scene-stealing film performances, often with a touch of that signature "handsome, vain, sleazy" panache.

From Salon

Eliasson works with a fabrication team, but the installation’s mechanics have the disorienting feel of an obsessed tinkerer’s haphazard workshop out in the garage, albeit assembled and delivered with sophistication and panache.

From Los Angeles Times

But this production offers its own harmonious compensation: modern day verbal panache and a company of vibrantly unconventional actors, led by a galvanizing Iwuji in a performance of unmistakable beauty.

From Los Angeles Times