verb

• 1with object Openly disregard (a rule, law, or convention)

  ‘the advertising code is being flouted’

  More example sentences

  • ‘In the future, how can we make demands like that with a straight face - or will others pay any heed when we ignore the conventions and flout the rules ourselves?’
  • ‘Under EU rules they flout the law if they carry out the same practice as American dentists and could face six months in jail or a ￡5,000 fine.’
  • ‘In fact, the aggressor in this war has not only ignored the relevant UN resolution, it has defied the United Nations and openly flouted international law.’
  • ‘In Cork, the Southern Health Board promised to ‘vigorously pursue any employers that are openly flouting the law.’’
  • ‘Friends say that the no hard drugs rule is openly flouted, which is sad but not great a surprise.’
  • ‘In dismissing this official requirement of a sister state, it would deliberately and openly flout international law and comity.’
  • ‘I can go on and on about our numerous sins, the way we flout laws or conventions or acceptable behaviour without even thinking about it.’
  • ‘Indeed gothic novels, while depicting evil aristocrats flouting law and convention, also betrayed a nostalgia for the feudal order and aristocratic values.’
  • ‘He said motorists ‘are openly flouting this law which shows a total lack of respect for the rules of the road’.’
  • ‘We are flouting this law of basic economics, waving our 620 billion dollars of foreign debt like so much dirty laundry.’
  • ‘Many large biological molecules like DNA seem to flout a basic law of nature: Although their charges have the same sign, they can attract one another and clump together in water.’
  • ‘The contractors in turn flout all labour laws and do not even pay minimum wages.’
  • ‘MPs on the committee lambasted self-regulation as ‘totally inadequate’ in curtailing sharp practices among operators who flouted the rules.’
  • ‘But every possible chance he has to help police, to tell the truth, to not flout convention, to ignore his marriage vows, he clearly thinks the rules do not apply to him.’
  • ‘In the past there have been a number of cases in which employers openly flouted the labour regulations and failed to observe even this minimal protocol when sacking workers.’
  • ‘Rules are flouted and violated with immunity exposing the common man to potential peril.’
  • ‘They're bending the rules; they're trying it on; they're flouting the law.’
  • ‘Civil disobedience didn't mean flouting all law.’
  • ‘If people know of businesses which are flouting the law for profit, they should alert the authorities.’
  • ‘However, it appears that some people think they can flout the law and jeopardise public safety.’

  Synonyms

  defy, refuse to obey, go against, rebel against, scorn, disdain, show contempt for, fly in the face of, thumb one's nose at, make a fool of, poke fun at

  View synonyms

• 2archaic no object Mock; scoff.

  ‘the women pointed and flouted at her’

  More example sentences

  • ‘‘Okay, you get off this time but just make sure you know, flattery only gets you so far,’ she flouted.’

  Synonyms

  mock, make fun of, laugh at, make jokes about, ridicule, jeer at, sneer at, deride, treat with contempt, treat contemptuously, scorn, laugh to scorn, scoff at, pillory, be sarcastic about, satirize, lampoon, burlesque, parody, tease, taunt, rag, make a monkey of, chaff, jibe at

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