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
She would talk herself past the terse woman on the switchboard, and the pompous young fellow in the outer office, and she would reassure her husband that there was no need to feel guilt.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
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.
