bluster

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“
Hidden beneath his bluster is the real world realization that cutting the US off from its oil supplies doesn't help Venezuela one bit.

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Definitions (27)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (7)

  1. intransitive verb To blow in loud, violent gusts, as the wind during a storm.
  2. intransitive verb To speak in a loudly arrogant or bullying manner.
  3. intransitive verb To brag or make loud, empty threats.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (10)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (3)

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Examples (50)

  • She was finally catching on to his ways, and knew the bluster was all for show. —  Garwood, Julie - The Secret
  • Mary Rose knew his bluster was all for the men's benefit. —  Garwood, Julie - Rose 1 - For the Roses
  • When customers began banding together and expressing their opinion, he became threatening, figuring that his bluster was going to turn out to be bigger than the whole phenomenon of consumer reviews. —  Traffick
  • Hidden beneath his bluster is the real world realization that cutting the US off from its oil supplies doesn't help Venezuela one bit. —  QandO
  • But he lacks the bluster, the spin that often comes with the job in Silicon Valley. —  The Seattle Times
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

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Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

bravado ·  bombast ·  braggadocio ·  swagger ·  sullenness ·  strut ·  arrogance ·  charlatanism ·  jeer ·  ostentation ·  guesswork ·  fustian

Used in the same contextWord Family

bluster:   blustered
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English blusteren, from Middle Low German blüsteren.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. Origin obscure. Hardly connected with Middle English blusteren, wander about aimlessly, = Low German blustern, blistern, flutter about anxiously; but prob. one of the imitative words attached loosely to what is felt to be the common root of blow, blast. The English Friesic blüstern, bluster, freq. of blüssen, variant of blasen (= English blaze), blow, is apparently a parallel formation.
  2. from bluster, v.
 

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/ˈbləstər/
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