swank
1 Americannoun
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dashing smartness, as in dress or appearance; style.
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a swagger.
adjective
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stylish or elegant.
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pretentiously stylish.
verb (used without object)
verb
verb
noun
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Also called: swankpot. a swaggering or conceited person
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elegance or style, esp of a showy kind
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swagger; ostentation
adjective
Etymology
Origin of swank
1800–10; compare Scots swank lively, perhaps ultimately representing back formation from Old English swancor lithe; akin to Middle Dutch swanc supple, Middle High German swanken to sway
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
She was joined in the top 10 by another U.K. singer, Raye, who favors swank Sixties outfits and has a brassy hit called “Where Is My Husband!”
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 18, 2026
EVANSTON, Ill.— Bryan and Kay Keenan just paid $2 million for a 1,600-square-foot apartment in The Mather, a swank retirement community here.
From Barron's • Oct. 26, 2025
However, a Times report found it has instead generated billions of dollars’ worth of tax breaks for the wealthy often in pursuit of luxury high-rises, high-end hotels and swank office space.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 31, 2024
“My comfort zone is being outside of my comfort zone,” León said from his shopping-bag-strewn suite at a swank Beverly Hills hotel in California, his girlfriend and team at his side.
From New York Times • May 27, 2024
Joe couldn’t do what he most wanted to do, to take Joyce out to the swank places downtown that many of her friends frequented.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
