pompous

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pom·pous

(pŏm′pəs)

adj.

1. Characterized by excessive self-esteem or exaggerated dignity; pretentious: pompous officials who enjoy giving orders.

2. Full of high-sounding phrases; bombastic: a pompous proclamation.

3. Archaic Characterized by pomp or stately display: a pompous occasion.

[Middle English, from Old French pompeux, from Late Latin pompōsus, from Latin pompa, pomp; see pomp.]

pom·pos′i·ty (-pŏs′ĭ-tē), pom′pous·ness (-pəs-nĭs) n.

pom′pous·ly adv.

pompous

(ˈpɒmpəs)

adj

1. exaggeratedly or ostentatiously dignified or self-important

2. ostentatiously lofty in style: a pompous speech.

3. rare characterized by ceremonial pomp or splendour

ˈpompously adv

ˈpompousness n

pomp•ous

(ˈpɒm pəs)

adj.

1. characterized by an ostentatious display of dignity or importance.

2. ostentatiously lofty or high-flown: a pompous speech.

3. characterized by pomp or stately splendor.

[1325–75; Middle English < Late Latin pompōsus]

pomp′ous•ly, adv.

syn: See grandiose.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Adj.	1.	pompous - puffed up with vanity; "a grandiloquent and boastful manner"; "overblown oratory"; "a pompous speech"; "pseudo-scientific gobbledygook and pontifical hooey"- Newsweek overblown, grandiloquent, pontifical, portentous pretentious - making claim to or creating an appearance of (often undeserved) importance or distinction; "a pretentious country house"; "a pretentious fraud"; "a pretentious scholarly edition"
	2.	pompous - characterized by pomp and ceremony and stately display ceremonious

pompous

adjective

1. self-important, affected, arrogant, pretentious, bloated, grandiose, imperious, showy, overbearing, ostentatious, puffed up, portentous, magisterial, supercilious, pontifical, vainglorious What a pompous little man he is.
self-important simple, natural, modest, humble, unaffected, unpretentious, self-effacing

2. grandiloquent, high-flown, inflated, windy, overblown, turgid, bombastic, boastful, flatulent, arty-farty (informal), fustian, orotund, magniloquent She winced at his pompous phraseology.
grandiloquent direct, simple, succinct, plain-spoken

pompous

adjective

Characterized by an exaggerated show of dignity or self-importance:

grandiose, hoity-toity, pretentious, puffed-up, puffy, self-important.

Informal: highfalutin.

Translations

أبَّهي، دالٌّ على أبَّهَه

pompézní

bombastiskopblæst

pompös

πομπώδης

pompeux

nagyképű

merkilegur meî sig

altisonante ampolloso borioso pomposo

görkemlikurumlu

pompous

[ˈpɒmpəs] ADJ [person] → pretencioso; [occasion] → ostentoso; [language] → ampuloso, inflado

pompous

[ˈpɒmpəs] adj [person, style, comment] → pompeux/euse

pompous

adj

person → aufgeblasen, wichtigtuerisch; attitude, behaviour also, phrase → gespreizt; language, letter, remark → schwülstig, bombastisch; don’t be so pompous → tu nicht so aufgeblasen, sei nicht so wichtigtuerisch

(= magnificent) building → grandios, bombastisch; occasion → grandios

pompous

[ˈpɒmpəs] adj (pej) (speech, attitude) → pomposo/a; (person) → pieno/a di boria

pomp

(pomp) noun

solemn stateliness and magnificence, eg at a ceremonial occasion. The Queen arrived with great pomp and ceremony.

ˈpompous adjective

too grand in manner or speech. The headmaster is inclined to be a bit pompous.

ˈpompously adverb

ˈpompousness noun

pomˈposity (-ˈpo-) noun

References in classic literature ?

He is a harsh man; at once pompous and meddling; he cut off our hair; and for economy's sake bought us bad needles and thread, with which we could hardly sew.

View in context

Here pompous official representatives may demur; but who can doubt that it is on its literature that a country must rely for its permanent representation?

View in context

Agatha, on the other hand, having from her childhood heard Uncle John quoted as wisdom and authority incarnate, had begun in her tender years to scoff at him as a pompous and purseproud city merchant, whose sordid mind was unable to cope with her transcendental affairs.

View in context

He escorted them to their box with a sort of pompous humility, waving his fat jewelled hands and talking at the top of his voice.

View in context

The central box contained the lean but pompous Sheriff, his bejeweled wife, and their daughter, a supercilious young woman enough, who, it was openly hinted, was hoping to receive the golden arrow from the victor and thus be crowned queen of the day.

View in context

Aramis, confiding in the address of Bazin, made a pompous eulogium on his candidate.

View in context

Having delivered himself of this pompous address, uttered with a degree of energy that left the baron almost out of breath, he bowed to the assembled party and withdrew to his drawing-room, whose sumptuous furnishings of white and gold had caused a great sensation in the Chaussee d'Antin.

View in context

But, after all, it was the most singular part of the affair that so many of the pompous governors of Massachusetts had allowed the obliterated picture to remain in the state chamber of the Province House.

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Sometimes, no doubt, it followed in the train of the pompous governors when they came over from England.

View in context

Well over fifty years of age when I knew him, short, stout, dignified, perhaps a little pompous, he was a man of a singularly well-informed mind, the least sailor-like in outward aspect, but certainly one of the best seamen whom it has been my good luck to serve under.

View in context

Rushworth, a well-meaning, civil, prosing, pompous woman, who thought nothing of consequence, but as it related to her own and her son's concerns, had not yet given over pressing Lady Bertram to be of the party.

View in context

In pompous language, however, which jumbled one sentence into another, and at length grew disconnected, he gave me to understand that I was to lead the children altogether away from the Casino, and out into the park.