Panache

Pronunciation

• RP IPA: /pəˈnæʃ/, /pəˈnɑːʃ/
• Rhymes: -æʃ

Origin

Borrowing from fr panache, from Middle French pennache ("plume of feathers"), from Italian pennacchio, from Latin pinnaculum.

Full definition of panache

Noun

1. (countable) An ornamental plume on a helmet.
• 1896 — Arthur Conan Doyle, , Chapter 4I had taken the panache from my shako so that it might escape notice, but even with my fine overcoat I feared that sooner or later my uniform would betray me.
2. (uncountable) Flamboyant, energetic style or action; dash; verve.
• 1894 — Kate Chopin, , ''One old gentleman, who was in the habit of reading a Paris newspaper and knew things, chuckled gleefully to everybody that Alcée’s conduct was altogether chic, mais chic. That he had more panache than Boulanger. Well, perhaps he had.

Synonyms

• (ornament on a helmet) hackle, plume, plumage
• (flamboyant style) dash, flamboyance, swagger, verve