Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Characterized by bombast; high-sounding; inflated; extravagant.
  • Synonyms Swelling, tumid, stilted, pompous, lofty, grandiloquent, high-flown.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Characterized by bombast; high-sounding; inflated.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective of a person Pompous or overly wordy.
  • adjective High-sounding but with little meaning.
  • adjective archaic Inflated, overfilled.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective ostentatiously lofty in style

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Either from bombast ("padding, stuffing"), or from middle name of Paracelsus (Theophrastus Bombastus), who often used extremely arrogant speaking style.

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Examples

  • Indonesian Forestry Ministry spokesman Ahmad Fauzi Masyhud said his office has not yet received the report, which he described as "bombastic."

    Breaking News: CBS News 2011

  • He was referring to the bombastic Transformers-style introduction ceremony the Heat held in the off-seasons with Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh.

    So There Is Crying in Basketball... Jason Gay 2011

  • 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.

    Lewis, Warren K. 2009

  • 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.

    The Globe and Mail - Home RSS feed 2010

  • 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! 2006

  • 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.

    The Secret of a Happy Home (1896) Marion Harland 1876

  • Chris Christie, a Republican whose style Malloy has called "bombastic," wants to end cost of living increases to state retirees.

    Yahoo! News: Business - Opinion 2011

  • 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."

    Boston.com Most Popular 2009

  • 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 Charles Nordhoff 1865

  • 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."

    On 'Daily Show,' Stewart Nails Rahm Emanuel, Chicago Politics Will Guzzardi 2010

Comments

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  • 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.

    December 7, 2008

  • pompous in speech or manner

    August 1, 2009