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bombastic

adj
/bɒmˈbæs.tɪk/UK/bɑmˈbæs.tɪk/US

Etymology

From bombast (“padding, stuffing”) + -ic, 18th century. Sense evolution possibly influenced by unrelated bomb and bombard; see also bombard phrase.

  1. derived from pmbk' — “cotton”
  2. derived from βόμβυξ — “silkworm”
  3. derived from bombax — “cotton”
  4. derived from bombace — “cotton, cotton wadding”
  5. suffixed as bombastic — “bombast + -ic”

Definitions

  1. showy in speech and given to using flowery or elaborate terms

    showy in speech and given to using flowery or elaborate terms; grandiloquent; pompous

    • Dorsett came up the stairs, buggy whip in hand. He bustled into the office in his usual self‐important way. Frank noticed that the old clerk sat down on him promptly. He was not one bit impressed with the bombastic visitor from Greenville.

  2. High‐sounding but with little meaning.

  3. Loud, aggressive, highly exaggerated, or explosive in manner or delivery

    Loud, aggressive, highly exaggerated, or explosive in manner or delivery; over‐the‐top.

  4. ›+ 1 more definition

    1. Inflated, overfilled.

The neighborhood

Derived

nonbombastic, unbombastic

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at bombastic. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01bombastic02sounding03sonorous04grandiloquent05turgid

A definitional loop anchored at bombastic. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

5 hops · closes at bombastic

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA