What's the difference between clout and flout?

Clout


Definition:

  • (n.) A cloth; a piece of cloth or leather; a patch; a rag.
  • (n.) A swadding cloth.
  • (n.) A piece; a fragment.
  • (n.) The center of the butt at which archers shoot; -- probably once a piece of white cloth or a nail head.
  • (n.) An iron plate on an axletree or other wood to keep it from wearing; a washer.
  • (n.) A blow with the hand.
  • (n.) To cover with cloth, leather, or other material; to bandage; patch, or mend, with a clout.
  • (n.) To join or patch clumsily.
  • (n.) To quard with an iron plate, as an axletree.
  • (n.) To give a blow to; to strike.
  • (n.) To stud with nails, as a timber, or a boot sole.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Bargaining is a question of clout, and which side has more of it.
  • (2) The growing power of public sector employees allowed them to win better pay and conditions, and gave them a degree of political clout.
  • (3) Also, the sections of the public keenest on the BBC – women, younger Britons, people in the south-east of England, the wealthier ABC1 social categories – have considerable political clout.
  • (4) For a start it was a powerful coalition of organisations – which carried serious clout.
  • (5) White, backed by the financial clout of the US treasury, prevailed.
  • (6) Gallenzi, though, believes it still has the clout to stand up to Amazon.
  • (7) And that means they need to use their lobbying abilities, they need to use their commercial clout to force the government to be more responsible in whatever jurisdiction it is, in safeguarding our public interests.
  • (8) Although he is from the Pashtun ethnic group that dominates south Afghanistan , Ghani's tribe has traditionally had more clout in the east.
  • (9) King said Ryan, an influential voice on budgetary matters who was Mitt Romney’s presidential running mate in 2012, was the only person with the clout to run for speaker.
  • (10) China has far greater clout than Spain in Argentina, whose economy is heavily dependent on soya exports to the Asian giant, leading to speculation that Fernández might strike her own deal with Sinopec, effectively handing even greater control over Argentina's economy to Beijing.
  • (11) Political action committees are a means for individuals to join together so they have some clout in the political process, Symons said.
  • (12) As the Americans draw down their forces, their clout is visibly weakening.
  • (13) "Part of what has given Britain clout in the last 15 years has been that our economy has been seen to be successful, but the whole Anglo-Saxon model has taken a great knock," says Niblett.
  • (14) At the time of the handover, the then foreign secretary, Robin Cook, reiterated that Britain would use its clout to defend Hong Kong and its freedoms.
  • (15) US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks refer to Hadi as a putative reformer, albeit one who had enjoyed little clout among Yemeni powerbrokers.
  • (16) Less than a fifth of English voters think that Scottish independence would diminish the rest of Britain's clout in the world.
  • (17) Film-makers with clout could circumvent the system, but when most directors are straight, white men making films about straight, white men, we don’t tend to get a very diverse lineup of films.” Facebook Twitter Pinterest Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing in The Imitation Game.
  • (18) Patrick Connolly of IFA firm AWD Chase de Vere is more sceptical about the power of individual shareholders, but says institutional investors do have a lot of clout.
  • (19) He was credited with helping YouView get its house in order and giving it some much-needed commercial clout.
  • (20) But if and as it grows, it will give China the clout in regional financing that membership of the ADB has not allowed it to wield, in spite being a generous capital provider to it.

Flout


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To mock or insult; to treat with contempt.
  • (v. i.) To practice mocking; to behave with contempt; to sneer; to fleer; -- often with at.
  • (n.) A mock; an insult.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) With just less than 1% of the world’s population homeless and seeking a better, safer life, a global crisis is under way, exacerbated by a lack of political cooperation – and several states, including the United Kingdom, are flouting international agreements designed to deal with the crisis.
  • (2) She and her two fellow PCCs for the region have been campaigning for local courts to take a stronger line on cases that are prosecuted, and have called for action against one judge they accuse of flouting sentencing guidelines, but she says it is impossible to know if sentences are in line with those for other offences of violence because cases are not logged separately.
  • (3) Eviction orders issued by a local authority generally involve individuals who are several thousands of pounds in arrears, or people who have consistently flouted reasonable repayment orders or avoided communication with the council.
  • (4) Our diplomatic relations suffered a severe setback when our Embassy compounds in Tehran were overrun in 2011 and the Vienna Convention flouted, and when the Iranian Majles voted to downgrade relations with the UK.
  • (5) The chief executive of a corporation that has flouted environmental laws might say something like: “You activists just don’t get it.
  • (6) We want to know how long they have done this for, what they’ve done with our private data, how much they have made from this, and why they keep flouting privacy laws?
  • (7) Yet anger is building among transparency campaigners, some of whom are expected to soon launch a legal challenge with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), arguing that some of the biggest names in American politics have been actively flouting the rules.
  • (8) • This article was amended on 29 January 2015 to correct a misuse of flaunt for flout in the sub-heading.
  • (9) He said Australia had a free trade agreement with China, and if China intended to flout the agreement in retaliation, it should say so.
  • (10) "The prosecution of journalists for reporting information that does not coincide with the government of Egypt's narrative flouts the most basic standards of media freedom and represents a blow to democratic progress in Egypt ."
  • (11) "Ian Kerr colluded with construction firms for many years flouting the Data Protection Act and ignoring thousands of people's privacy rights," he said.
  • (12) The charity is also calling for sanctions against Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Thailand, which it says have flouted the law for years.
  • (13) No doubt it's a serious matter that some abortion clinics are said to be flouting the law and getting consent forms pre-signed by doctors.
  • (14) It says Trump flouted anti-nepotism law by appointing his daughter and her husband to White House jobs .
  • (15) Those openly called on to flout international law in the interests of a higher good do not then suddenly submit that goal to domestic law once they've gone through customs.
  • (16) Alan Andrews, ClientEarth lawyer, said: "The supreme court recognised that this case has broader implications for EU environmental law: the government can't flout environmental law with impunity.
  • (17) Because if Keogh’s right, if this “challenges the ethical framework”, if we’re acting in spite of conscience and not because of it, then almost every junior doctor in the land is flouting the rules set out by the GMC, and performing deficiently.
  • (18) Three ex-bosses flouted the rules when the now-defunct institution lent hundreds of millions of euros to 16 people in the summer of 2008 at a time when its share price had collapsed, the Irish state's prosecutor said.
  • (19) Let us make it clear that Labour will never make the same mistake again, will never flout the United Nations and international law.” This effectively rules out Labour under Corbyn from supporting David Cameron’s government in a proposed House of Commons vote to expand to Syria the current UK air strikes in Iraq against Islamic State.
  • (20) In May, the prime minister was more exercised by the flouting of privacy injunctions on Twitter, saying that the law should be reviewed to "catch up with how people consume media today" because it was unfair that newspapers were unable to identify philandering celebrities such as Ryan Giggs, who had taken out an injunction, when their identity was freely circulating on Twitter .