high-sounding
Americanadjective
adjective
Etymology
Origin of high-sounding
First recorded in 1550–60
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.
Hairabedian claimed that in the reported cases “the common denominator is that there was no physical violence but an exchange of high-sounding words.”
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 6, 2022
Another definition found in the 1889 "Americanisms, Old & New" had "talking turkey" meaning "To use high-sounding words, when plain English would do equally well or better."
From Salon ● Nov. 25, 2021
Sarris began his Village Voice review with a dig: “A covey of high-flying, high-sounding critics have managed to save ‘Pretty Poison’ from a fate worse than death in the fleshpots of 42nd Street.”
From New York Times ● Sep. 28, 2018
“We have not come together in battle array to assume a boastful attitude and to talk loudly of high-sounding principles,” explained a South Carolina gathering in 1865.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 18, 2018
But among them, his former pupils, excited by the high-sounding proclamations, the determination reigned to sacrifice their skins for a lost cause.
From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
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.
