pompous
Americanadjective
-
characterized by an ostentatious display of dignity or importance.
a pompous minor official.
- Synonyms:
- pretentious
-
ostentatiously lofty or high-flown.
a pompous speech.
-
Archaic. characterized by pomp, or a display of stately splendor or magnificence.
an impressive and pompous funeral.
adjective
-
exaggeratedly or ostentatiously dignified or self-important
-
ostentatiously lofty in style
a pompous speech
-
rare characterized by ceremonial pomp or splendour
Other Word Forms
- pompously adverb
- pompousness noun
- unpompous adjective
- unpompously adverb
- unpompousness noun
Etymology
Origin of pompous
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English word from Late Latin word pompōsus. See pomp, -ous
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.
Mr. Broderick, himself a sometime movie star, brings a slyly funny air of noblesse oblige that dovetails amusingly with Jay’s pompous, blinkered dimness.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 19, 2026
The unmistakably pompous uncle of the female lead flipped the table, throwing everything on it into the air.
From BBC • Feb. 27, 2026
But as the satirically pompous, high-strung Moira Rose, the uncomfortably broke former soap opera queen and matriarch of the hit Canadian sitcom “Schitt’s Creek,” O’Hara achieved universal acclaim and endless memeability.
From Salon • Jan. 30, 2026
Dramatically, however, “Sirāt” is at once haphazard and pompous, stalling on its central mystery and throwing in a few flashes of distracting calamity.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 13, 2025
With the Judge’s sons, hunting and tramping, it had been a working partnership; with the Judge’s grandsons, a sort of pompous guardianship; and with the Judge himself, a stately and dignified friendship.
From "The Call of the Wild" by Jack London
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.
