Definition of "flout"

The manoeuvres of Microsoft and HP appear to comply with the letter of the regulations, even if they flout their spirit.

2012 September 29, “Tax alchemy: Tech's avoidance”, in The Economist‎

Of necessity […] the duty to comply with the rules designed to spare civilians as much as possible the hazards of war is absolute, not contingent on the behavior of opponents. The Israeli government already seems to be flouting those rules.

2023 October 11, Kenneth Roth, “The attack on Israel has been called a ‘9/11 moment’. Therein lies a cautionary tale”, in The Guardian‎

Yet all ' s not worth a pin, But could not get her; Phillida flouts me. Dick had her to the Vine

1653, Iz[aak] Wa[lton], The Compleat Angler or The Contemplative Man’s Recreation. Being a Discourse of Fish and Fishing, […], London: […] T. Maxey for Rich[ard] Marriot, […]; reprinted as The Compleat Angler (Homo Ludens; 6), Nieuwkoop, South Holland, Netherlands: Miland Publishers, 1969,

Three gaudy standards flout the pale blue sky.

1812–1818, Lord Byron, “Canto 1”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. , London: John Murray,, stanza 41

A flout is when someone deliberately and ostentatiously contravenes a maxim.

2012, John Flowerdew, Discourse in English Language Education, page 97