Definitions
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Characterized by bombast; high-sounding; inflated; extravagant.
- Synonyms Swelling, tumid, stilted, pompous, lofty, grandiloquent, high-flown.
Wiktionary
- adj. of a person Pompous or overly wordy.
- adj. High-sounding but with little meaning.
- adj. archaic Inflated, overfilled.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Characterized by bombast; high-sounding; inflated.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. ostentatiously lofty in style
Etymologies
- Either from bombast ("padding, stuffing"), or from middle name of Paracelsus (Theophrastus Bombastus), who often used extremely arrogant speaking style. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Indonesian Forestry Ministry spokesman Ahmad Fauzi Masyhud said his office has not yet received the report, which he described as "bombastic.”
“He was referring to the bombastic Transformers-style introduction ceremony the Heat held in the off-seasons with Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh.”
The Wall Street Journal: So There Is Crying in Basketball...
“He contributed a great deal to the program with his ability to view engineering problems theoretically and mathematically and with his memorable teaching style, which was sometimes described as bombastic but nonetheless endeared him to students.”
“Shark Tank (back on Friday at 9 p.m.), the Montreal native has become known as the bombastic investor who routinely dashes the dreams of budding entrepreneurs, quite often in the most withering manner imaginable.”
“Your misuse, from my perspective, of the word bombastic really threw me off for some reason.”
The Tail Section » Stephen King Explains How he Would End LOST!
“I had not changed my intellectual belief as to my correspondent's behavior, but the impropriety of complicating an awkward business by placing myself in the wrong to the extent of losing my temper was so obvious that I blushed in recalling the bombastic periods of the torn composition.”
“Chris Christie, a Republican whose style Malloy has called "bombastic," wants to end cost of living increases to state retirees.”
“Some songs were clearly tailor-made to showcase his guitar prowess, namely a bombastic take on "Big Love" and a searing, extended solo on "I'm So Afraid.”
“And what of dignity or meaning could be said? where talking of sacred subjects is not allowed, under the pretext that it scatters those blessings which should be carefully treasured up; and bestowing much information concerning the secular plans of economy practiced by your own to the other sex is not approved; and where to talk of literary matters would be termed bombastic pedantry and small display, and would serve to exhibit accomplishments which might be enticingly dangerous.”
The Communistic Societies of the United States From Personal Visit and Observation
“He followed with a montage of euphemisms applied to Rahm by a pantheon of talking heads, who described him as "bombastic" and "brusque," said he "isn't afraid of breaking a little china," and "isn't a shrinking violet.”
The Huffington Post: On 'Daily Show,' Stewart Nails Rahm Emanuel, Chicago Politics
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘bombastic’.
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Test Prep or Just for fun
Building a list for standardized test prep or just for learning some new words! Please add any words that you feel are important for the SAT/GRE/GMAT etc...
throng, morass, parley, facile, kismet, strife, jetsam, carrion, annex, harbinger, vestige, surreptitious and 575 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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GRE Barron's 800
abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abject, abjure, abscission, abscond, abstemious, abstinence, abysmal, accretion and 787 more...
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gre
municipal, whit, dissembler, berate, liberally, embellish, dissimilitude, histrionics, flamboyance, bombastic, bovine, calumny and 142 more...
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501
Classic
abhor, mirth, obtuse, iota, vex, irk, teem, pith, moot, mete, ire, bane and 401 more...
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GRE 2014
abase, abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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SAT Words
But only the ones that I don't already know.
abase, abash, abominate, abstruse, acclivity, accolade, accost, adroit, adulate, adulterate, adumbrate, affray and 241 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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January 2012
bloviate, pastiche, apparat, facile, paroxysm, pique, bedfellow, pedigree, tutelage, protege, protégé, retroactive and 196 more...
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Words about Words
words to describe language
invective, eloquent, laconic, solecism, calque, cognate, bombastic, verbose, anthimeria, magniloquent, amphigory, morpheme and 6 more...
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March 2012
panache, evanescent, erogenous, vestibule, malfeasance, lacuna, blithering, incubate, breech, tabernacle, pearly, upholstery and 79 more...
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man gre
abase, abeyance, abreast, abscission, abscond, abyss, accede, accretion, acerbic, acidulous, acumen, adulterate and 483 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1901 more...
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Words to Know
Words that will hopefully help for the sat.
capricious, bombastic, decorous, loquacious, ossified, jingoism, mitigated, venerable, supercilious, pugnacious, jubilant, Perfidy and 17 more...
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words to remember
loquacious, decorous, bombastic, impetuous, pedantic, cantankerous, abscond, sagacity, chiaroscuro, histrionic, mincing, maverick
Tweets
Looking for tweets for bombastic.
sweetzingiber pompous in speech or manner Jul 31, 2009
vanishedone I'm guessing the first WeirdNet definition, 'ostentatiously lofty in style', isn't the one it has in mind in its definition of a rant. Either that or I should be refining my ranting style. Dec 7, 2008