Make Your Point: PREEN

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pronounce PREEN:

PREEN

connect this word to others:

Let's categorize the word preen as a bird word!

A bird verb, to be precise. Preening, originally and most literally, is something birds do.

See if you can recall these other bird verbs:

1. To move in a quick, light way, like a hummingbird would, is to fl__.

2. To cluster into a noisy, disorganized group, like a flock of geese, is to g_gg__.

3. To play around in a loud, silly, or teasing way, like a high-flying songbird, is to sk____k.

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)

definition:

(Source)

(Source)

"Preen" arose as a different form of "prune," meaning "to trim back, to cut back," and traces back to an Old French word meaning "to trim one's feathers with one's beak."

In English, for centuries, we've used "preen" to mean "to groom yourself carefully, making sure you look nice, much like a bird trimming its own feathers."

Because preening is fussy and self-involved, we also use "preening" to mean "vain, proud of yourself, proud of your appearance, or self-applauding."

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Verb, often the intransitive kind: "They preened;" "She was preening all morning."

Also the transitive kind: "The bird preened its feathers;" "He preened himself, then took a selfie."

Other forms:

"Preening" can be a noun for the activity: "His preening made me roll my eyes."

"Preening" is also an adjective: "She's a loud, preening, self-important 'influencer.'"

how to use it:

Pick the formal, semi-common word "preen" when you want to describe people's vain attention to their own physical appearance, comparing them to fussy little birds.

Talk about people preening, or preening themselves, or preening for other people, or preening for cameras or interviews, or preening over or about their own accomplishments.

It's unusual, but you could even use "preen" to tag dialogue. Here's the Washington Post: "Travis is the kind of guy who gets excited by having enemies: 'You know you're on your way up when they slap a target on your back,' he preens."

To use the adjective, "preening," you might talk about preening people or personalities, or about their preening ego or vanity. "She's a preening Instagram model, and her own Insta feed is full of other preening Insta models."

examples:

"The boy pinches some of the herb and arranges it on a rectangle of paper in his palm. He shapes it into a narrow cylinder then rolls the paper, licking the edge with the delicacy of a preening cat."
— Cristina García, Dreaming in Cuban, 1992

"They have spread lies. They have preened with immoral ambition in front of TV cameras and on social media. They've puffed out their chests and expressed righteous indignation over the accolades that didn't come their way."
— Robin Givhan, Washington Post, 13 January 2021

"[Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior] is one of the most talented players of his generation, an icon in his native Brazil and the most expensive player in football history. He is also, in the eyes of some, a preening prima donna."
— Staff, BBC, 28 April 2021

has this page helped you understand "preen"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this term, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "preen" without saying "primp" or "doll up."

try it out:

As the New York Times noted, for a documentary called "The Balcony Movie," the director "planted himself on his veranda and dangled both a camera and a microphone over a gray strip of concrete below, trying to enlist passers-by to do some soul-searching for a purported film about life. When he tells these folks that they are to be in a movie, some preen, others shyly decline and yet others start philosophizing about what it means to live a life worthy of cinema."

If you were one of the passers-by who just realized you were being filmed, would you have preened, or done something else, like shyly declined or philosophized?

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game for this month is Just Joshing: John Oliver Edition!

Flex your creativity and word-finding skills as you fill in the blanks to create your own joke, following the example of the comedian John Oliver. Since the LOLs are in the details, try making your joke as specific (or weird) as possible.

For example, if I give you "The only things you should be buying on eBay are _____ and _____," then you might give me "The only things you should be buying on eBay are pieces of gum chewed by Elvis and unassembled snowmen." (Oliver's actual joke was "The only things you should be buying on eBay are vintage RadioShack swag and a discarded e-meter from the Church of Scientology.")

Try this one today: "Is there anything more off-putting than a guy worth hundreds of billions trying to be a relatable everyman? 'You know how it is, chilling in the living room with the bros… kicking back on your _____, and _____ing. Just relatable, everyday stuff, guys.'"

To see my crack at it, as well as Oliver's original joke, scroll all the way down.

review this word:

1. The opposite of PREENING, the adjective, could be

A. GORGEOUS or ARRESTING.
B. HUMBLE or SELF-EFFACING.
C. VACILLATING or YO-YOING.

2. In Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's novel Purple Hibiscus, a statue of a preening lion symbolizes, quite straightforwardly, _____ (and, less straightforwardly, power and oppression).

A. pride and dignity
B. violence and cunning
C. submission and servitude

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.

I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.

From my blog:
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A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.

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