grandiloquent

American  

[gran-dil-uh-kwuhnt] / grænˈdɪl ə kwənt /

adjective

1. speaking or expressed in a lofty style, often to the point of being pompous or bombastic.

   Synonyms:

   pretentious, rhetorical, inflated, turgid

   Antonyms:

   sincere, simple

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grandiloquent British  

/ ɡrænˈdɪləkwənt /

adjective

1. inflated, pompous, or bombastic in style or expression

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• grandiloquence
  noun
• grandiloquently
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of grandiloquent

First recorded in 1585–95; grandiloqu(ence) + -ent

Explanation

Grandiloquent is a fancy term for, well, being fancy or pretentious. In fact, you might say grandiloquent is itself a pretty grandiloquent word. The word grandiloquent generally refers to the way a person behaves or speaks. Politicians and schoolteachers are the usual suspects of this manner of behavior, known as grandiloquence, but it can refer to anything that's overbearing or pompous in style or manner. Architecture, especially, is highly guilty of being grandiloquent — if you check out just about anything built in the Baroque style, you could describe it as grandiloquent.

Example Sentences

Kasabian Brief bio: Grandiloquent rockers, based in Leicester.

From BBC • Feb. 21, 2012

Grandiloquent in ordinary matters, he "made little fishes talk like whales."

From English Literature, Considered as an Interpreter of English History Designed as a Manual of Instruction by Coppee, Henry

Grandiloquent and sonorous, his lungs seem to play the better for the absence of the heart.

From Imaginary Conversations and Poems A Selection by Landor, Walter Savage