grandiloquence

[ gran-dil-uh-kwuhns ]

/ grænˈdɪl ə kwəns /

Save This Word!

speech that is lofty in tone, often to the point of being pompous or bombastic.

QUIZZES

In effect, this quiz will prove whether or not you have the skills to know the difference between “affect” and “effect.”

Question 1 of 7

The rainy weather could not ________ my elated spirits on my graduation day.

1580–90; <Latin grandiloqu(us) speaking loftily (grandi(s) great + -loquus speaking) + -ence

But in opposing the Bush-Cheney march to war, his grandiloquence changed to eloquence.
Remembering Robert Byrd|Paul Begala|June 28, 2010|DAILY BEAST
Our central problem is that the combination of his grandiloquence and the September 2008 financial crisis led to his election.
I Told You So|Lynn Forester De Rothschild|February 28, 2010|DAILY BEAST
Then he made a lamentable effort to deliver himself of fulminations after the manner of the Chief's grandiloquence.
Menotah|Ernest G. Henham
It has the terseness of the French, without the grandiloquence of the Spanish, being derived directly from the Latin.
Petals Plucked from Sunny Climes|Sylvia Sunshine

But the Colonel's reserved and persistent grandiloquence finally got the better of the other's inclination to banter.
The Enemies of Women|Vicente Blasco Ibez
He is of the same semi-classic school as Quintana, and like him devoted to artistic excellence and lyric grandiloquence.
Modern Spanish Lyrics|Various
Here lies the distinction between grandiloquence and genuine fancy or bold imaginativeness.
The Essays of "George Eliot"|George Eliot