MEANING
1. To move with conspicuous, lively steps, often in a way that suggests self-importance or delight.
2. For a horse, to move with short, raised steps, or to make it move this way.
Use it for
showing a character making an entrance; describing movement that looks pleased with itself; contrasting exuberant stepping with quiet or restrained movementShows energetic, conspicuous stepping, with a precise horse-gait sense and an evaluative human extension. Writing functions: Body Language / Movement.
Words that belong together
- prance around the room
- prance across the stage
- a self-important prance
On the page
He pranced across the landing in the coat he had sworn not to wear.
She made one delighted prance around the suitcase before remembering that he was watching.
The horse pranced beside the gate, lifting its feet through the loose snow.
The rider steadied the mare before its prance carried them into the waiting crowd.
Word forms
- Base
- prance
- Past tense
- pranced
- Past participle
- pranced
- Present participle
- prancing
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- prance
- Present continuous
- am/is/are prancing
- Present perfect
- have/has pranced
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been prancing
- Past
- pranced
- Past continuous
- was/were prancing
- Past perfect
- had pranced
- Past perfect continuous
- had been prancing
- Future
- will prance
- Future continuous
- will be prancing
- Future perfect
- will have pranced
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been prancing
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Usage notes
Verb and count noun. Prances, pranced, pranced, prancing; future will prance. Often prance about, around, or across. A prance is a movement or gait, not another headword. Register: neutral. Commonness: moderately common (qualitative editorial estimate, informed by dictionaries/corpus).
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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