To flaunt means to show off something in a way that's meant to impress others or make them jealous. When someone flaunts their new bicycle, they ride it around the neighborhood, making sure everyone notices how shiny and expensive it is. A student who flaunts a perfect test score might wave it in front of classmates who didn't do as well.

The word carries a negative feeling because flaunting suggests showing off in an annoying or boastful way. There's a difference between being proud of an accomplishment and flaunting it. You might feel proud of winning a spelling bee and tell your family about it, but if you keep bringing it up to make other students feel bad, you're flaunting your victory.

People sometimes confuse flaunt with flout, which means to openly disobey a rule. If you flaunt the rules, you're showing them off (which doesn't make much sense). If you flout the rules, you're breaking them on purpose. Remember: you flaunt your success, but you flout the speed limit.