: highly or widely praised or boasted about
his own much vaunted ferocity—
Calvin Tomkins
Calvin Tomkins
Did you know?
Vaunted Has Latin Roots
The verb vaunt has been used since the 15th century with the meaning "to make a vain display of one's own worth or attainments"—in other words, "to brag or boast." Over time, vaunt developed the meaning "to boast of (something)," as in "the promotional flier vaunts the natural beauty of the area," and gave rise to the adjectival form vaunted. The history of vaunt and vaunted leads back to the Latin word vānus, meaning "vain" or "empty." The word vain itself is also a descendant of vānus.
Examples of vaunted in a Sentence
The team's vaunted defense faltered in the second half of the game.
Recent Examples on the Web
Roy hit Frederic with a cross-check directly to the face, and Vegas faced five long minutes of penalty killing against the Oilers’ vaunted power play.
—Daniel Nugent-Bowman, New York Times, 9 May 2025
Oblivion Remastered hints that the RPG jewel in Xbox’s repertoire is aware of interest in its vaunted catalogue and capable of doing justice to old workhorses (annoying crashes, frame-rate dips, and pop-in notwithstanding).
—Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 8 May 2025
On one level, this agreement represents a failure for Trump’s much vaunted business acumen.
—Wesley Alexander Hill, Forbes.com, 7 May 2025
There was also decidedly little for the world to admire about the U.S. and its vaunted ideals in the episode.
—Patrick Brzeski, HollywoodReporter, 7 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for vaunted
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Daniel Nugent-Bowman, New York Times, 9 May 2025
Oblivion Remastered hints that the RPG jewel in Xbox’s repertoire is aware of interest in its vaunted catalogue and capable of doing justice to old workhorses (annoying crashes, frame-rate dips, and pop-in notwithstanding).
—Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 8 May 2025
On one level, this agreement represents a failure for Trump’s much vaunted business acumen.
—Wesley Alexander Hill, Forbes.com, 7 May 2025
There was also decidedly little for the world to admire about the U.S. and its vaunted ideals in the episode.
—Patrick Brzeski, HollywoodReporter, 7 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for vaunted
Cite this Entry
“Vaunted.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vaunted. Accessed 23 May. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
vaunted
adjective
vaunt·ed
ˈvȯnt-əd 
ˈvänt-
: much praised or boasted about
the team's vaunted offense
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share