bluster
Americanverb (used without object)
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blusters,
present (3rd person singular)
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blustered,
past participle, past
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blustering
present participle
verb (used with object)
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blusters,
present (3rd person singular)
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blustered,
past participle, past
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blustering
present participle
noun
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boisterous noise and violence.
the bluster of the streets.
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noisy, empty threats or protests; inflated talk.
bluff and bluster.
verb
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to speak or say loudly or boastfully
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to act in a bullying way
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to force or attempt to force (a person) into doing something by behaving thus
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(intr) (of the wind) to be noisy or gusty
noun
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boisterous talk or action; swagger
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empty threats or protests
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a strong wind; gale
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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blusterernoun
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blusteringnoun
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outblusterverb (used with object)
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blusterousadjective
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blusteryadjective
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blusteringlyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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blustersimple
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blusterssimple
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have blusteredperfect
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has blusteredperfect
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am blusteringprogressive
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are blusteringprogressive
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is blusteringprogressive
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have been blusteringperfect progressive
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has been blusteringperfect progressive
Past
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blusteredsimple
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had blusteredperfect
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was blusteringprogressive
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were blusteringprogressive
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had been blusteringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of bluster
First recorded in 1520–30; perhaps from Low German blustern, blüstern “to blow violently”; compare Old Norse blāstr “blowing, hissing”
Explanation
If you tell the captain of the basketball team that you're going to beat him at a game of hoops even though you've never played, you're speaking with a lot of bluster or false confidence and bravado. Bluster can also mean a strong wind. On a blustery day, you'll see trees blowing and people holding onto their hats. When someone full of bluster is talking about how they can do something that you think they can't, they're blowing a lot of hot air in your direction. And coincidently, another name for that type of person is a blowhard.
Vocabulary lists containing bluster
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Hilton, who as you say, Gustavo, is full of British bluster, is at least pushing answers out of Becerra, who has in fact dodged press for weeks.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
His previous U.N. speeches have been jammed with bluster and bunkum, but none more so than this one.
From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2026
Morgan and Quinn took a serious approach to their business, despite the bling and celebrity bluster.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026
Davis has since backtracked, insisting the claims were bluster and were created by a ghostwriter to sell books.
From Barron's ● Aug. 17, 2026
He had blustered and complained about Ulbrickson right along with Shorty and Roger, but now that he was alone the bluster faded and the old weight of anxiety and self-doubt settled on him again.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
Mr. Xi blusters about Taiwan because he can’t say what he really fears from the U.S.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 26, 2026
Myers is especially fine conveying a sort of shyness seasoned with bravado, along with various degrees of worry that only increase as she blusters her way into ever more perilous situations.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2024
In his effort to spotlight racism and racially motivated violence, the subject of “Loudmouth” rails, showboats, declaims and blusters.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 5, 2022
In the role of amped-up chrome-domed villain Dr. Robotnik, he blusters, he blathers, he snarks, he sneers and, above all, he shouts.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 5, 2022
Sure I was blind when I first lov'd this fellow, And long to live in that fogg still: how he blusters!
From Beaumont & Fletcher's Works (8 of 10) The Womans Prize; The Island Princess; The Noble Gentleman; The Coronation; The Coxcomb by Francis Beaumont
Over a grinding week in January, McCarthy bartered, bargained and blustered his way into the powerful speaker’s office with the history-making spectacle of 14 failed votes.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 1, 2023
From the moment he blustered his way onto the political stage, Donald Trump defied expectations.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 29, 2023
“It’s not a trick question,” Mr. Poe blustered.
From New York Times ● Dec. 11, 2021
It shows a violent blast of wind, and streaks of rain, beating a dun-colored landscape, as if a summer thunderstorm had missed its cue in June and blustered in six months later.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 1, 2020
A late moth blustered in to find the fire.
From "The Pearl" by John Steinbeck
Max Frumes and Sujeet Indap sketch the shifting alliances and blustering personalities that made this one of the most notorious Chapter 11 cases of the 21st century.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
Students treat institutional rituals as a farce and openly mock their principal - calling him Yamdoot after the Hindu god of death - a blustering figure who addresses them as "My dear donkey".
From BBC ● Feb. 13, 2026
On Thursday in northern Los Angeles County, wind gusts peaked at 56 mph at Lake Palmdale, with blustering winds recorded along the Central Coast and into the Antelope Valley, the weather service said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 18, 2024
“All right, Mongo’s home, Chicago!” bellowed the blustering Bear with long black hair tucked under his baseball cap.
From Seattle Times ● May 31, 2024
And I can’t help but feel that Whitman, for all his blustering beauty, might have been just a bit too optimistic.
From "Paper Towns" by John Green
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
