Illustration of panache
- panache 1
1
: an ornamental tuft (as of feathers) especially on a helmet
The palace guard had a panache on his helmet.
2
: dash or flamboyance in style and action : verve
… flashed his … smile and waved with the panache of a big-city mayor.—
Joe Morgenstern
Joe Morgenstern
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Few literary characters can match the panache of French poet and soldier Cyrano de Bergerac, from Edmond Rostand’s 1897 play of the same name. In his dying moments, Cyrano declares that the one thing left to him is his panache, and that assertion at once demonstrates the meaning of the word and draws upon its history. In both French and English, panache (which traces back to Late Latin pinnaculum, “small wing”) originally referred to a showy, feathery plume on a hat or helmet; our familiar figurative sense debuted in the first English translation of Rostand’s play, which made the literal plume a metaphor for Cyrano’s unflagging verve even in death. In a 1903 speech Rostand himself described panache: “A little frivolous perhaps, most certainly a little theatrical, panache is nothing but a grace which is so difficult to retain in the face of death, a grace which demands so much strength that, all the same, it is a grace … which I wish for all of us.”
Examples of panache in a Sentence
She played the role of hostess with great panache.
Recent Examples on the Web
While its skyline and tree canopy share visual prominence from the rooms, both are soon forgotten in the hushed Old Hollywood panache of its supper club, The Betty.
—Su-Jit Lin, Southern Living, 27 Dec. 2025
The script is witty while the general conceit is executed with panache.
—Kevin Jacobsen, Entertainment Weekly, 25 Dec. 2025
There's macho panache and white-knuckle action sequences aplenty as Pitt's eccentric Formula 1 veteran plays reluctant mentor to a hotshot rookie (Damson Idris).
—Brian Truitt, USA Today, 23 Dec. 2025
Few singers today dispatch the aria with the panache of Gerald Finley, who performs the oratorio next week with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, from December 16 to 21.
—Matthew Gurewitsch, Air Mail, 13 Dec. 2025
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Su-Jit Lin, Southern Living, 27 Dec. 2025
The script is witty while the general conceit is executed with panache.
—Kevin Jacobsen, Entertainment Weekly, 25 Dec. 2025
There's macho panache and white-knuckle action sequences aplenty as Pitt's eccentric Formula 1 veteran plays reluctant mentor to a hotshot rookie (Damson Idris).
—Brian Truitt, USA Today, 23 Dec. 2025
Few singers today dispatch the aria with the panache of Gerald Finley, who performs the oratorio next week with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, from December 16 to 21.
—Matthew Gurewitsch, Air Mail, 13 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for panache
Cite this Entry
“Panache.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/panache. Accessed 3 Jan. 2026.
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