flamboyant flam-ˈbȯi-ənt adjective and noun
adjective: marked by ostentation and often colorful display
noun: showy tropical tree or shrub native to Madagascar; widely planted in tropical regions for its immense racemes of scarlet and orange flowers; sometimes placed in genus Poinciana
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The word flamboyant has appeared in 209 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on Jan. 29 in “Kobe Bryant’s Many Moves to the Net” by Guy Trebay:
“As a young player, Kobe was predominantly donning more casual wear, active pieces, baggy sweatsuits and Michael Jordan Bulls jerseys,’’ said Jamaal Richards, whose Instagram account MoreThanStats is a mother lode of images documenting the transformation of athletes into fashion leaders. “As he grew as a player, a superstar and celebrity, he turned more toward sartorial elegance and sleek bespoke suiting. It was a natural progression for him since he always had that professional mind-state, that mamba mentality.”
Off court as well as on, Mr. Bryant was precise rather than flamboyant, cerebral, reading the public situations in which he increasingly found himself — from magazine photo shoots to red carpets — for their utility to him over the long term.
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