ostentation
[os-ten-tey-shuh n, -tuh n-]
- pretentious or conspicuous show, as of wealth or importance; display intended to impress others.
- Archaic. the act of showing or exhibiting; display.
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Origin of ostentation
1425–75; late Middle English ostentacioun < Middle French ostentation < Latin ostentātiōn- (stem of ostentātiō), equivalent to ostentāt(us) past participle of ostentāre to display, exhibit, frequentative of ostendere to present, display (equivalent to os-, var of ob- ob- + ten(dere) to stretch + -t- frequentative suffix + -ātus -ate1) + -iōn- -ion
Synonyms
See more synonyms for ostentation on Thesaurus.com1. pretension, pretense.
Synonym study
1. See show.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for ostentation
Contemporary Examples
He was a showman who indulged in ostentation and flamboyance.
It can be shocking at first—the copious amounts of nudity, ostentation, “O” faces, all twisted, layered, sometimes even malformed.
Historical Examples
Reflecting, by your ostentation, upon all the ladies in the county, who do not as you do.
Clarissa, Volume 1 (of 9)Samuel Richardson
For myself, I must say that I like absence of all ostentation.
A Comedy of Marriage and Other TalesGuy De Maupassant
In Spain, it is celebrated with all the pomp and ostentation imaginable.
Roman Catholicism in SpainAnonymous
This was no time, he remarked, for publicity and ostentation.
The RescueJoseph Conrad
The man nearest him, combing his beard with ostentation, burst into a laugh.
The Long RollMary Johnston
ostentation
- pretentious, showy, or vulgar display
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for ostentation
n.
mid-15c., from Old French ostentacion (mid-14c.) and directly from Latin ostentationem (nominative ostentatio) "showing, exhibition, vain display," noun of action from past participle stem of ostentare "to display," frequentative of ostendere "to show" (see ostensible).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper