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Definition of "swagger" [swag•ger]

  • To walk or conduct oneself with an insolent or arrogant air; strut. (verb-intransitive)
  • To brag; boast. (verb-intransitive)
  • To browbeat or bully (someone). (verb-transitive)
  • A swaggering movement or gait. (noun)
  • Boastful or conceited expression; braggadocio. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "swagger" in a sentence
  • "Brodeur and Luongo brim with confidence, while Fleury has to ask what, exactly, the English word "swagger" means."
  • "Thanks in part to the rapacious greed injected into war-fighting by the liberal use of for-profit armed "security" companies, a brutal, unaccountable and unreliable swagger is increasingly the face of the U.S. in conflict zones around the world."
  • "The theatricality of Katherine's piety, Anne's glamour and Henry's swagger is all reflected in the gilt-edged wardrobe."