preen

These days, pastel and fluorescent birds groom, preen and bicker in enclosures behind the home.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 4, 2026

Maybe it’s happiest tucked into a cast-iron skillet, going golden and jammy while the showier types preen in their baskets.

From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2025

It might be a bank holiday in the UK, but for the designers, publicists and PAs, it'll be an extraordinarily busy day as they preen and prepare their stars to walk the grand staircase.

From BBC ● May 4, 2025

His middle school pals call him “Wang Wang,” one of a few silly monikers among his longtime friend group, who preen and posture beyond their years.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2024

I prance from rack to rack, I preen.

From "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" by Barbara Ehrenreich

Sometimes his comic instincts do pay off, as when Thor, Jane and friends crash a neo-Olympian, Vegas-ready paradise called Omnipotence City, where Crowe’s Zeus preens, prances and speaks in a hilariously awful Greek accent.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 5, 2022

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.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 3, 2022

He smiles and dances and points and preens, turning each field-goal attempt into a telenovela.

From New York Times ● Dec. 14, 2021

Robotnik preens, seethes, and contorts his face to spit out condescending sarcasm with all the psychology of a Saturday morning cartoon baddie.

From Slate ● Feb. 14, 2020

He preens on the railing, raising his beak majestically, fluffing his feathers.

From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman

So if you happen to raise an orphan like we did with Alfie, that desire to be preened is very relatable.

From Salon ● Oct. 1, 2023

Sporting a flipped bouffant hairstyle and a floral wiggle dress that harked back to the 1967 film “Valley of the Dolls,” she’s not just immaculately preened for her inaugural L.A.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2023

Some guests — who preened in eye-popping colors, aggressive patterns, velvet slippers and stiletto heels — were art-struck.

From New York Times ● Mar. 11, 2022

The performances viewers see are not mimed to a studio recording that was made in advance and preened to perfection with editing.

From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2021

Standing in the middle of a concrete slab, scared for their lives, they preened.

From "Jazz" by Toni Morrison

And there’s the leering, preening Rupert Mannion from “Ted Lasso” — multimillionaire soccer team owner, inveterate philanderer and incurably vindictive divorcé.

From Salon ● Jun. 12, 2026

When they film themselves preening on their phones, with the images projected onto the giant mirrors, Claire and Solange use filters that turn their sallow, pinched faces into plump-lipped, high-cheekboned ones that suggest Kim Kardashian.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026

But it’s tricky to maintain a balance between eliciting sympathy for the central duo and making sport of them, in all their preening garishness.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 10, 2025

That last is a sly point that’s been an enduring comic take of Hitler’s artistic preening.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 7, 2025

There were always adults available to encourage this relentless preening.

From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan