braggadocio
Americannoun
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vain empty boasting
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a person who boasts; braggart
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of braggadocio
After Braggadocchio, boastful character in Spenser's Faerie Queene (1590), apparently a pseudo-Italian coinage based on brag
Explanation
Braggadocio means not only bragging, but bragging about something that’s not true. When your friend boasts of a private yacht, ten personal servants, and nightly caviar dinners, that’s braggadocio, unless he happens to live on the French Riviera. Braggadocio comes from the word brag, but saves you the trouble of calling someone's bragging a lie by giving you one word that does both. You might say that the new guy at work who keeps telling stories about his heroic genius for fixing any computer is full of braggadocio — since when you asked him for help with yours, he had no idea what to do.
Vocabulary lists containing braggadocio
100 SAT Words Beginning with "B"
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National Spelling Bee '14: Prelims Round 2
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Least Presidential Vocabulary Used by Presidential Candidates during the GOP Debate (Sept. 16, 2015)
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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:
But the most likely outcome is that people will brush these warnings aside and answer them with braggadocio of the type “America is not for sale.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2025
Oracle’s ups and downs reflect his unparalleled vision and singular skill set, as well as his braggadocio and blind spots.
From Barron's ● Oct. 10, 2025
This latest combination of vanity whining and braggadocio bombast was greeted from Congress, members of his staff, reporters and members of the general public with mostly wide, tired stares.
From Salon ● Jun. 26, 2025
His bombast and braggadocio betray a subtle flinch.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 4, 2024
A few of the officers dawdled after their lesson, enjoying Mr. Turner's foining and the free exchange of youthful braggadocio.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
Elvie Ellis navigates “On the Deck of a Spanish Sailing Ship, 1492” with authority, then pivots from braggadocios to soul-baring as a budding basketball star with a dark past in “The Steam Train.”
From Washington Post ● Jul. 16, 2021
“I’m a jealous boy, really feel like John Lennon,” he sang in “All Girls Are the Same,” in a mopey voice that could veer from downcast mumble to braggadocios rap.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 8, 2019
He engages in rap’s braggadocios side, opens up to romantic stresses, touches the issue of being black and queer in 2015, juggling all that while still eagerly dropping Pokémon references.
From The Guardian ● Dec. 15, 2015
Don’t feel that only braggadocios apply for awards; if you’re an expert in your industry, you deserve to be recognized.
From Forbes ● Feb. 13, 2013
There were also among the Imperialists many arrant braggadocios, and the smallest dwarf boasted of having, in his own flight, killed, in their flight, I know not how many long-legged Brandenburgers.
From Pictures of German Life in the XVIIIth and XIXth Centuries, Vol. II. by Gustav Freytag
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.
