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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

prance.

To spring forward on the hind legs.

6 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ˈpɹɑːns/Received-Pronunciation[ˈpʰɹʷɑːns]Received-Pronunciation/ˈpɹɐːns/Australia, New-Zealand, South[ˈpʰɹʷɐ̞ːns]Australia, New-Zealand, South
  1. To spring forward on the hind legs.

  2. To strut about in a showy manner.

    colloquial · figuratively
    John's daughter was prancing about the sitting room, practicing for her school dance.
Where this word comes from

From Middle English prancen, prauncen (“to prance”, literally “to show off”), variant of Middle English pranken (“to prank”), thus probably from the same ultimate root as prank. Cognate with Bavarian prangezen, prangssen (“to put on airs”), Alemannic German pranzen (“to strut”).

noun/ˈpɹɑːns/Received-Pronunciation[ˈpʰɹʷɑːns]Received-Pronunciation/ˈpɹɐːns/Australia, New-Zealand, South[ˈpʰɹʷɐ̞ːns]Australia, New-Zealand, South
  1. A prancing movement.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English prancen, prauncen (“to prance”, literally “to show off”), variant of Middle English pranken (“to prank”), thus probably from the same ultimate root as prank. Cognate with Bavarian prangezen, prangssen (“to put on airs”), Alemannic German pranzen (“to strut”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.