JAUNTY (jauntier, jauntiest)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: jauntier    , jauntiest   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does jaunty mean? 

• JAUNTY (adjective)
  The adjective JAUNTY has 2 senses:

1. marked by up-to-dateness in dress and manners

2. having a cheerful, lively, and self-confident air

  Familiarity information: JAUNTY used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• JAUNTY (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Marked by up-to-dateness in dress and manners

Synonyms:

dapper; dashing; jaunty; natty; raffish; rakish; snappy; spiffy; spruce

Context example:

a jaunty red hat

Similar:

fashionable; stylish (being or in accordance with current social fashions)

Derivation:

jauntiness (stylishness as evidenced by a smart appearance)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Having a cheerful, lively, and self-confident air

Synonyms:

chipper; debonair; debonaire; jaunty

Context example:

a jaunty optimist

Similar:

cheerful (being full of or promoting cheer; having or showing good spirits)

Derivation:

jauntiness (a breezy liveliness)

 Context examples 

“We must make some little allowance,” said my uncle, with a sudden return to his jaunty manner.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

With that Jo marched straight away and the rest followed, a bright little band of sisters, all looking their best in summer suits, with happy faces under the jaunty hatbrims.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The little man started, and the jaunty smoking-cap slid to the floor.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

As danger thickened his jaunty manner would increase, his speech become more racy, his cold eyes glitter into ardent life, and his Don Quixote moustache bristle with joyous excitement.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

With white armor, blazoned shield, and plume of ostrich-feathers from his helmet, he carried himself in so jaunty and joyous a fashion, with tossing pennon and curveting charger, that a shout of applause ran the full circle of the arena.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He carried a jaunty sort of a stick, with a large pair of rusty tassels to it; and a quizzing-glass hung outside his coat,—for ornament, I afterwards found, as he very seldom looked through it, and couldn't see anything when he did.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The son, on the other hand, had dropped all that jaunty, dashing style which had characterized him, and the ferocity of a dangerous wild beast gleamed in his dark eyes and distorted his handsome features.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He still retained, however, the jaunty gallantry of his speech.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A heavy cross-buttock at the end of the thirty-first round shook the breath from his body, and he came up for the thirty-second with the same jaunty gallantry as ever, but with the dazed expression of a man whose wind has been utterly smashed.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Here and there bounded Sir Nigel, his head erect, his jaunty plume fluttering in the air, while his dark opponent sent in crashing blow upon blow, following fiercely up with cut and with thrust, but never once getting past the practised blade of the skilled swordsman.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)