# Synonyms for "Flamboyant"



## shiness

Q : What is the word that is closest in meaning to the word "Flamboyant"?

The writer's *"flamboyant"* lifestyle was well known in his hometown.
1. luxurious 2. colorful 3. frugal 4. problematic 5. modest


The question's from some college admission English test last year and those who had taken it were divided in almost equal proportion in their choices between 1 and 2, the rest certainly out of the boundary.

As for the answer, we never know since the college themselves never let us know what the correct answer for this queston is. 

For me, I voted for 1 but I'm really lost here.

I'd like some brilliant English natives to shed some light on this matter please.


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## ascension

I'd vote for 2, "colorful."


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## bibliolept

I might choose exceedingly or extremely showy or gaudy. The closest from the options listed would be colorful.


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## Unknoewn13

I'm thinking colorful...but it's slightly odd because it is comparing flamboyant almost to the figurative meaning of colorful...although luxurious fits in where flamboyant does, I don't think flamboyant is close enough to luxurious to consider them nearly synonymous


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## gaer

bibliolept said:


> I might choose exceedingly or extremely showy or gaudy. The closest from the options listed would be colorful.


I would choose "colorful" if limited to the above choices, but I think it's a poor choice.

http://www.wordreference.com/fren/Flamboyant

The first thing that comes to my mind is "flaming", but figuratively. Someone who is flamboyant is someone you can't help noticing. I would reject luxurious. To me that does not fit at all.

Gaer

Edit: I did not mean to break the English only rule by linking to the French. I did so because MW clearly includes the meanings shown in the link. My point was simply that the word is more than just color. It is at least vivid color, which is why flamboyant people are so hard to ignore. They live life in such a vivid way.


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## shiness

Looking up in the Collins Cobuild dictionary for the exact definition of "luxurious",

*"If you describe something as luxurious, you mean that it is very comfortable and expensive."*  e.g = "She had come to enjoy Roberto's luxurious life-style."

Seeing that, I thought luxurious was a perfect counterpart for "flamboyant" as the example sentence itself clearly proved.


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## bibliolept

There are many very luxurious things that are quite staid, sedate, understated, or subtle.


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## cycloneviv

I'm wondering, Gaer, why you chose to give the link to the French-English translation of "flamboyant". The English definition page gives quite different meanings:

*B*_adjective_
*1 **flamboyant*, resplendent, unrestrained
_richly and brilliantly colorful  _



*2 *aureate, florid, *flamboyant*, showy
_elaborately or excessively ornamented; "flamboyant handwriting"; "the senator's florid speech"_


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## Unknoewn13

Luxurious fits the sentence perfectly, but it isn't close enough to flamboyant.  If the author's lifestyle was flamboyant, he would have likely lived luxuriously, and would have been noticed by the whole town (which is why it is well known to the whole town).  However, someone who lives colorfully is also likely to live luxuriously and be noticed, which means it is more directly related (figuratively).


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## gaer

shiness said:


> Looking up in the Collins Cobuild dictionary for the exact definition of "luxurious",
> 
> *"If you describe something as luxurious, you mean that it is very comfortable and expensive."* e.g = "She had come to enjoy Roberto's luxurious life-style."
> 
> Seeing that, I thought luxurious was a perfect counterpart for "flamboyant" as the example sentence itself clearly proved.


But that does not mean that "comfortable and expensive" means the same thing. There may be an overlapping, but I don't agree that luxurious is even close to the best choice for an English synonym.


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## Cagey

Maybe what we want is a definition of colorful that would fit this context.(3)* colorful*: striking in variety and interest; "a colorful period of history"; "a colorful character"; "colorful language"​_Colorful = striking_ means that it is the sort of thing that gets your attention, which is why it is a better match for _flamboyant_.


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## gaer

cycloneviv said:


> I'm wondering, Gaer, why you chose to give the link to the French-English translation of "flamboyant". The English definition page gives quite different meanings:


In this case the French link gives a marvelous expansion of this, from MW:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/flamboyant

Note that the etymology is given, then this:

2*:* marked by or given to strikingly elaborate or colorful display or behavior <a _flamboyant_ performer>

I think that's a good example. Yes, the word "colorful" is there, but if you also consider "strikingly elaborate" and then think of other adjectives given in French, I think it gives shades of meaning, even in English, that show why colorful is at best a synonym and doesn't capture the complete "picture".

But you may disagree. 

Gaer


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## nichec

bibliolept said:


> There are many very luxurious things that are quite staid, sedate, understated, or subtle.


 

Exactly, a luxurious life can be very low-key if you want it to be. But being flamboyant (and colorful) is anything but low-key.

*Cagey* is so right (as always) about colorful, anything or anyone colorful is simply not plain, not bare, it can even be scandalous (as in, she has a very colorful sex life), and that's why "colorful" gets my vote.


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## cycloneviv

Good point, Gaer. I wasn't so much disagreeing as wondering aloud.


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## El escoces

I agree that "colourful" (to use BE spelling) is closest.  When I think of flamboyant I think "_extrovert_", although I like the earlier suggestion "showy".

Think flamboyant, think Liberace!


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## GreenWhiteBlue

A lifestyle can be flamboyant without being the least bit luxurious. For example, someone may live in a cheap and shabby apartment, but go around town with his or her hair dyed flaming red, wearing loads of cheap and gaudy jewelry, lots of make-up, and a fruit-basket-hat like Carmen Miranda's. Such a lifestyle is decidedly flamboyant and colorful, but probably not luxurious.

Meanwhile, someone else might live in a classic Georgian town house, wear custom made (bespoke) suits that, though conservative in style and dark in color are made of the finest fabrics with the most perfect workmanship, and spend his time attending to his collection of finely bound first editions that he keeps in his wood-panelled library. Such a life can be extremely luxurious, but not remotely colorful or flamboyant.


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## gaer

GreenWhiteBlue said:


> A lifestyle can be flamboyant without being the least bit colorful. For example, someone may live in a cheap and shabby apartment, but go around town with his or her dyed flaming red, wearing lots of cheap and gaudy jewelry, lotes of make-up, and a fruit-basket-hat like Carmen Miranda's. Such a lifestyle is decidedly flamboyant and colorful, but probably not luxurious.
> 
> Meanwhile, someone else might live in a classic Georgian town house, wear custom made (bespoke) suits that, though conservative in style and dark in color are made of the finest fabrics with the most perfect workmanship, and spend his time attending to his collection of finely bound first editions that he keeps in his wood-panelled library. Such a life can be extremely luxurious, but not remotely colorful or flamboyant.


I would say that flamboyant implies the possibility of eccentricity. 

It does not have to mean that, but often it does.

That was the reason I said that "colorful", by itself, is not enough to express possible shades of meaning.


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## GreenWhiteBlue

Gaer, I corrected a typo in my post above: my first line should have read "A lifestyle can be flamboyant without being the least bit *luxurious*."


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## bibliolept

GreenWhiteBlue said:


> A lifestyle can be flamboyant without being the least bit luxurious. For example, someone may live in a cheap and shabby apartment, but go around town with his or her dyed flaming red, wearing lots of cheap and gaudy jewelry, lotes of make-up, and a fruit-basket-hat like Carmen Miranda's. Such a lifestyle is decidedly flamboyant and colorful, but probably not luxurious.
> 
> Meanwhile, someone else might live in a classic Georgian town house, wear custom made (bespoke) suits that, though conservative in style and dark in color are made of the finest fabrics with the most perfect workmanship, and spend his time attending to his collection of finely bound first editions that he keeps in his wood-panelled library. Such a life can be extremely luxurious, but not remotely colorful or flamboyant.



I've always found your double lives charmingly eccentric.


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## gaer

GreenWhiteBlue said:


> Gaer, I corrected a typo in my post above: my first line should have read "A lifestyle can be flamboyant without being the least bit *luxurious*."


Ah! Yes, I was confused there, and your correction makes perfect sense. I thought it was too small to mention, but it was the only thing you said that I disagreed with. Now I agree with you entirely.


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## GreenWhiteBlue

Other typos have also been corrected.  Note to self: do not hit "post reply" when not wearing the reading glasses...


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## AngelEyes

I vote for *colorful*, too. A flamboyant person is a showy person - one whose behavior or personal appearance is coordinated in such a way as to draw attention to that individual.

It's a dramatic sense of style, speech, or behavior. 

*AngelEyes*


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## El escoces

I was thinking about this thread again while out running this morning (don't ask me why - it has nothing to do with my running style or how I dress when I go running).  Anyway my latest thought is that, for me, colourful is all wrong for flamboyant.  "Colourful", to me, denotes "gaudy", not "flamboyant".  Flamboyant, overall, is as much if not more about deportment, manner, behaviour, than about how one appears; so while a flamboyant person may well be colourful or gaudy (or "showy"), I don't think it's essential.

For flamboyant, I'm coming round to "extrovert".  This captures something of the behaviour element, which may or may not include an extravagant or showy dress sense.


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## AngelEyes

El escoces said:


> For flamboyant, I'm coming round to "extrovert". This captures something of the behaviour element, which may or may not include an extravagant or showy dress sense.


 
Don't you think that those who dress in a dramatic way to draw attention to themselves also possess the personality that goes along with it?

A discreet, moderate person would not wear purple pinstripe jeans with orange tennis shoes, a floppy hat with a big red feather, giant burgundy glasses, and a turquoise boa around their neck.

A showy, colorful personality would, though.

I think colorful can describe both the physical and the mental, which almost always goes hand in hand, in my experience.

*AngelEyes*


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## El escoces

Angel_Eyes_,

I'm happy to accept that "colourful" can apply to personalities as well as appearance, now that I read your comments.

I'm not so sure about speech, though.  Surely colourful _language_ usually denotes swearing (at least it does in British English)?


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## AngelEyes

El escoces said:


> I'm not so sure about speech, though. Surely colourful _language_ usually denotes swearing (at least it does in British English)?


 
I agree with you here. 

This adds another element to the word's usage.

*AngelEyes*


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## gaer

El escoces said:


> Angel_Eyes_,
> 
> I'm happy to accept that "colourful" can apply to personalities as well as appearance, now that I read your comments.
> 
> I'm not so sure about speech, though. Surely colourful _language_ usually denotes swearing (at least it does in British English)?


Characterized by rich variety; vividly distinctive: _colorful language._
source

"Colorful language" is also used in the US, humorously, to refer to swearing. However, I would say that we extend the meaning to describe the writing of people such as Mark Twain.

Don't you have that additional meaning in BE?

Twain, I think, could have been described as a rather flamboyant character.


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## El escoces

I accept that we do have that additional meaning in BE.  (And Oscar Wilde was certainly a flamboyant character.)

HOWEVER I would limit colourful language, in that sense, to the written word; colourful _verbal_ language is still more likely to indicate the other thing, so I still have a problem with its association with flamboyant.


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## gaer

El escoces said:


> I accept that we do have that additional meaning in BE. (And Oscar Wilde was certainly a flamboyant character.)
> 
> HOWEVER I would limit colourful language, in that sense, to the written word; colourful _verbal_ language is still more likely to indicate the other thing, so I still have a problem with its association with flamboyant.


I would certainly have the same problem unless we are clear that "colorful language" is being used to describe someone who is "colorful" and not "crude".


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## JCEst

I'd go with colorful


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## valskyfrance

maybe also : brilliant or dazzling


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## KenInPDX

I'm surprised nobody mentioned this, but I think the word also has a connotation of being gay, or at least fitting a common stereotype of gay men.  It's no accident that Oscar Wilde and Liberace were given as examples of flamboyant behavior earlier in the thread.

As noted, flamboyant means "flaming" in french, and flaming is also often used to refer to gay men in English - eg. so-and-so is a flaming queen.

I don't think it exclusively refers to gay men or that it can't be used in other contexts, but I do think the connection is there.  I don't think most straight men would like being referred to as "flamboyant".


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## El escoces

Hmm, not sure I agree with you entirely, Ken.  I think a lot of straight film stars, pop stars, "celebrities" (if we must), would be said to be flamboyant, as least in terms of their lifestyles.  Whether they would use the word to describe _themselves_ is a moot point I guess.

Also there is of course perhaps a distinction between a flamboyant lifestyle (connoting extravagance and/or opulence) and a flamboyant personality (suggesting colourful (by consensus) and perhaps camp behaviour) - so I guess what I'm saying is that you may have a point - up to a point!

Are you suggesting "flaming queen" is a way of describing a highly camp or flamboyant gay man, as opposed to a milder version of a derogatory reference, like "f-ing queen"?  I haven't seen it used that way in BE as far as I can recall.


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## Packard

For me "flamboyant" would mean "aflame with color" and "colorful" would be my choice.

(If you don't know the answer to this question you clearly don't belong in college and must work for the rest of your life as a ditch digger.)

Thankfully many colleges are abandoning the SAT and other standardized tests as they don't correlate well with student performance. Questions like this one only goes to prove the point.


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## KenInPDX

El escoces said:


> Hmm, not sure I agree with you entirely, Ken. I think a lot of straight film stars, pop stars, "celebrities" (if we must), would be said to be flamboyant, as least in terms of their lifestyles. Whether they would use the word to describe _themselves_ is a moot point I guess.
> 
> Also there is of course perhaps a distinction between a flamboyant lifestyle (connoting extravagance and/or opulence) and a flamboyant personality (suggesting colourful (by consensus) and perhaps camp behaviour) - so I guess what I'm saying is that you may have a point - up to a point!
> 
> Are you suggesting "flaming queen" is a way of describing a highly camp or flamboyant gay man, as opposed to a milder version of a derogatory reference, like "f-ing queen"? I haven't seen it used that way in BE as far as I can recall.


 
I agree with you that flamboyant doesn't always have a gay connotation, just that it can and often does, I think especially when it is used to describe someone's personality.  As I said, it is not an accident that Liberace and Oscar Wilde were the two individuals named in this thread to illustrate the concept.

In the US "flaming queen" would be a way to describe a highly camp or flamboyant gay man.  Within the gay community, at least in my experience, it is not particularly pejorative, although it's usage in this day and age would be campy in and of itself.  I've heard straight people use it pejoratively but not as a milder version of another reference.


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## El escoces

Interesting, thanks Ken. It's new to me.


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## rainbow84uk

It's definitely not new to me, and I was also surprised it hadn't been mentioned earlier. I hear people say "he's a bit...erm..._flamboyant" _as a euphemism to describe a very camp man who they suspect must be gay. It's not at all uncommon among gossips in my part of the world!


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## El escoces

Hi rainbow84uk,

I get "flamboyant"; it was the "flaming queen" reference that I hadn't heard in the UK.  Have you?


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## rainbow84uk

Oh sorry, I see what you mean now! (though I'm still surprised that we got so far into the thread without the reference to gay/camp coming up!)

Apart from talking literally about fire, I've heard _flaming _in expressions with _'flaming_ red/orange' (comparing the colour to fire), and to replace a stronger word beginning with f. Like you, can only imagine *flaming queen* in this way - with _flaming_ meaning something like _bloody/damn/f---ing._


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## El escoces

That's what I thought - use of "flaming queen" restricted to American English.

Original question was: synonyms for "flamboyant". I'm not advocating it, but given recent posts in the thread, I think we have to acknowledge that "gay" is perhaps in use out there to describe something or someone flamboyant (whether or not, in the case of a person, he actually is). I can imagine wallpaper, a coat, a car, all being referred to by a friend - seeking to caution against choosing the item - as "very, er...gay..." as a means of suggesting it's a bit too _flamboyant_ for comfort.


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## Matching Mole

Moderator note:

The original topic was not an open request for synonyms for "flamboyant"; however it is moving in that direction, and I believe in any case that the topic has been amply explored.

This thread is now closed.


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