panache
nounUK, US /pəˈnæʃ/
Etymology Unadapted borrowing from French panache, from Middle French pennache (“plume of feathers”), from Italian pennacchio, from Late Latin pinnāculum. Doublet of pinnacle.
1
An ornamental plume on a helmet.
- I 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.1896, Arthur Conan Doyle, chapter 4, in The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard:
2
Figuratively Flamboyance, energetic style or action.
- 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.1894, Kate Chopin, “At the 'Cadian Ball”, in Bayou Folk:
- Cyberpunk caters to the wish-fulfillment requirements of male teen-agers, but this is a job that can be done with varying degrees of panache, and there is currently no more accomplished caterer than William Gibson.1988 December 11, Thomas M. Disch, “Lost in Cyberspace”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
2 more examples
- It was a tantalizing promise, delivered with Donald Trump’s trademark panache: As dealmaker in chief, he would quickly end world conflicts that had defied his predecessors and their nattily dressed legions of career diplomats.2025 April 24, Ned Temko, “Trump’s ‘quick fix’ approach to diplomacy slow to yield results”, in The Christian Science Monitor:
- It takes serious chutzpah for an American to bring a film abour the French New Wave to Cannes but [Richard] Linklater pulls it off with considerable comic panache and affection.2025 May 24, Raphael Abraham, “In Godard we trust”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 16:
- Derived terms
- panached