To vaunt is to brag or boast about something. A common form is much vaunted followed by an object, meaning the object has been talked of a lot. Though it is commonly seen with a hyphen, the correct form is without.
Archaicly a vaunt was a singular boast.
Examples
Authorities vaunt the “success” of Tunisia’s political transition, pointing to the adoption of a constitution and a “national dialogue”, following political assassinations and attacks on security forces which rocked the country last year. [Global Post]
His besetting weakness is vanity, exhibited in publicity shots in which he vaunts his bare torso and muscular physique (exactly like Benito Mussolini) or in which he’s shown walking through the Kremlin’s gilded state rooms, being bowed through the doors by guards dressed in ceremonial Napoleon-era uniforms. [Forbes]
The hard-running rake was playing his 50th test against Argentina and helped keep the much-vaunted Pumas at bay in the set scrum for the first hour of the match. [Reuters]
Hughes is now approaching the fifth anniversary of his 2009 dismissal, minutes after Manchester City beat Sunderland 4-3, and when they had already lined up his successor, Roberto Mancini, and if he was miscast as a manager of a super-rich club with vaunting ambition, this was proof that he has often excelled with a lesser budget and a competitive group of players who savour their status as underdogs. [The Guardian]
It turns out that under the much vaunted Bill of Rights a right to due process exists only in respect of “criminal” matters. [Canberra Times]