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panache

panache, flair

noun pa-NASH Rare
Descriptions & Qualities Manner

Origin: from Italian pennacchio (plume), from penna (feather)

Also means

plume (of feathers or smoke)

Usage Note

Panache originally meant a plume of feathers on a helmet; its meaning of dashing style and flamboyant confidence is so associated with French culture that the English language borrowed it directly. The phrase avec panache means doing something with style and bravado. Cyrano de Bergerac's dying word panache in Rostand's play became a defining emblem of this quality.

Examples

"Elle a affronté la critique avec beaucoup de panache."

Natural Translation

She faced the criticism with great panache.

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