brag

American  

[brag] / bræg /

verb (used without object)

• brags,
  present (3rd person singular)
• bragged,
  past participle,  past
• bragging
  present participle

1. to use boastful language; boast.

   He bragged endlessly about his high score.

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verb (used with object)

• brags,
  present (3rd person singular)
• bragged,
  past participle,  past
• bragging
  present participle

1. to boast of.

   He bragged that he had won.

   Antonyms:

   depreciate

noun

1. a boast or vaunt.

2. a thing to boast of.

3. a boaster.

4. an old English card game similar to poker.

adjective

1. Archaic. unusually fine; first-rate.

brag British  

/ bræɡ /

verb

1. to speak of (one's own achievements, possessions, etc) arrogantly and boastfully

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noun

1. boastful talk or behaviour, or an instance of this

2. something boasted of

   his brag was his new car

3. a braggart; boaster

4. a card game: an old form of poker

Synonym Usage

See boast ¹.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• bragger
  noun
• bragging
  noun
• overbrag
  verb
• outbrag
  verb (used with object)
• bragless
  adjective
• unbragging
  adjective
• braggingly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Participles

• bragging
  present
• bragged
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• brag
  simple
• brags
  simple
• have bragged
  perfect
• has bragged
  perfect
• am bragging
  progressive
• are bragging
  progressive
• is bragging
  progressive
• have been bragging
  perfect progressive
• has been bragging
  perfect progressive

Past

• bragged
  simple
• had bragged
  perfect
• was bragging
  progressive
• were bragging
  progressive
• had been bragging
  perfect progressive

Future

• will brag
  simple
• will have bragged
  perfect
• will be bragging
  progressive
• will have been bragging
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of brag

1350–1400; Middle English brag (noun) ostentation, arrogance, braggen (v.); of obscure origin

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Explanation

When you're bragging, you're boasting. If you can't stop talking about your fancy new shoes, that's bragging. Ever notice how some people are full of themselves and constantly telling you about the great things they've done? Those folks like to brag. Bragging is a verbal kind of showing off. We all do it sometimes, and it's almost always annoying when other people do it. A specific boast can be called a brag. Athletes often brag before big games. But only the winners can brag after, because they backed up their words.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

brag brags bragged bragging

They don’t brag about their money, don’t ask what we earn, don’t make us feel poor.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026

"To the thief: we don't fault you for wanting to brag to your friends how much PBR you have, we just wish you obtained it the honourable way."

From BBC ● Aug. 31, 2026

“I lived this when there wasn’t a way to brag about it.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026

When he comes upon Irontown, led by the highborn Lady Eboshi, and listens to its people brag about burning down the boar god’s forest, one might expect him to be angry.

From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2026

He wants to brag about this encounter, like a knight errant bragging about his coolness as he unscrews the spike from the monster’s heart and breathes life back into the fiery nostrils.

From "Jazz" by Toni Morrison

He keeps going to the doctor, has bruises on both hands, and brags about passing dementia tests.

From Slate ● Jun. 23, 2026

To this day, he brags about getting kicked out of casinos all over the world.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 25, 2026

Meanwhile he brags about acing three different cognitive tests in the last year.

From Salon ● Jan. 2, 2026

Nobody brags about water stocks at cocktail parties — that’s how you know they might actually work.

From MarketWatch ● Dec. 9, 2025

But Double-Ugly brags he’s too fast wid it tuh git hurt, but Ah knowed better.

From "Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston

"They come in fat and they come out skinny," he bragged, smiling and making a joke about his own weight.

From Barron's ● Oct. 23, 2026

She means it just as I would if I bragged I can benchpress a beer keg — that is, once I strength-train beyond my piddly 5 lb dumbbells.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 14, 2026

Howard Lutnick, the billionaire commerce secretary, bragged last year that if the Social Security Administration stopped sending checks to his mother-in-law she wouldn’t complain.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 14, 2026

A witness also alleged that Matlala had bragged about his "close connections with very senior police officials", including Sibiya, following his arrest in May last year.

From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026

“I know how to turn off the alarm system,” Josie bragged.

From "The School for Whatnots" by Margaret Peterson Haddix

The late Peter Bennett used to joke that one should avoid any stock that “fund managers are bragging about to each other on the golf course.”

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 12, 2026

How can someone have young children and decide to part with them for two months for a climb that is about, at face value, little more than bragging rights?

From Salon ● Nov. 1, 2026

As Dizzy Dean would say more than once over the years: “If I can do what I say, it ain’t bragging, is it?”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2026

Whether for clout on Letterboxd or simply bragging rights among friends, how one sees a movie has become a key part of the overall experience.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026

Mrs. Baylor had been in our house only a few weeks, but we'd heard her bragging to our mother about her beloved son, Nigel, a zillion times.

From "It All Comes Down to This" by Karen English

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