noun

fop

FAHP/fɑːp/

A vain man excessively concerned with his clothes and manners.

The fop fusses over the exact angle of his pocket square.

A stylishly dressed man fusses over the precise angle of his pocket square in a full-length mirror, with several alternate ties laid nearby, conveying excessive attention to his appearance.

Etymology

Fop first meant a foolish person, later narrowing to a man conspicuously concerned with dress and appearance. This later use may have begun as mockery by people who considered such concerns foolish.

In context

Audiobooks. Full length, free176:24

let him avoid going to the extreme of the mode if he would not be taken for an empty-headed FOP

GENTLEMEN’S BOOK OF ETIQUETTE. by CECIL B. HARTLEY.. Audiobook - full length, free

More examples

The play mocked a fashionable fop.
He was dismissed as a fop who cared only about clothes.
The fop admired himself in every mirror.

Forms

fop · fops

Similar words

dandy: A dandy is devoted to stylish dress; fop more strongly mocks excessive vanity.
coxcomb: Coxcomb is another old-fashioned insult for a vain or foolish man.