ostentation

[os-ten-tey-shuhn, -tuhn-]

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noun

pretentious or conspicuous show, as of wealth or importance; display intended to impress others.

Archaic. the act of showing or exhibiting; display.

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

Related formsnon·os·ten·ta·tion, noun

Synonyms for ostentation

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1. pretension, pretense.

Synonym study

1. See show.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for ostentation

parade, show, pretension, spectacle, affectation, array, demonstration, splurge, swank, boasting, flash, exhibition, vainglory, swagger, braggadocio, pomp, fuss, bravado, pomposity, magnificence

Examples from the Web for ostentation

Contemporary Examples of ostentation

He was a showman who indulged in ostentation and flamboyance.
Michelle Obama in Alexander McQueen: Lady in Red
Robin Givhan
January 19, 2011
It can be shocking at first—the copious amounts of nudity, ostentation, “O” faces, all twisted, layered, sometimes even malformed.
Erotic Embroidery
Rachel Wolff
May 20, 2010

Historical Examples of ostentation

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 Tales
Guy De Maupassant
In Spain, it is celebrated with all the pomp and ostentation imaginable.
Roman Catholicism in Spain
Anonymous
This was no time, he remarked, for publicity and ostentation.
The Rescue
Joseph Conrad
The man nearest him, combing his beard with ostentation, burst into a laugh.
The Long Roll
Mary Johnston

British Dictionary definitions for ostentation

ostentation

noun

pretentious, showy, or vulgar display

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

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).