grandiloquence

[gran-dil-uh-kwuhns]

noun

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of grandiloquence¹

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

Example Sentences

“Authentic Presence” manages to feel weighty while also ephemeral, grand without grandiloquence, understated in its execution yet unafraid of dramatic gesture.

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His often hilarious struggles are related by Big’s little brother, Meed — short for “Medium Big” — with a marvelously rough-hewn quality that is perfectly captured through the halting grandiloquence of Feodor Chin’s inspired narration.

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With a certain dramatic grandiloquence, he slurped the oyster into his mouth.

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As the critic Justin Davidson put it, Johnson’s design for AT&T “deliberately made it hard to distinguish between true grandeur and mock grandiloquence.”

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The dry grandiloquence of the narration puts Celeste at a remove, making her seem more distant than she might be in a movie more interested in milking the viewer’s empathy and tears.

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