puffed-up
Americanadjective
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feeling self-important; arrogant; pompous.
-
swollen; puffy.
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.
The puffed-up version is a lot less interesting and humanly evocative than the true version.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
Claudius comes across as a sinister puffed-up phony.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 25, 2026
One woman sits grinning idiotically at a huge, puffed-up pillow on her lap.
From Slate ● Jul. 21, 2025
In a way, that makes sense, given Ethan’s puffed-up prose.
From New York Times ● Feb. 6, 2024
Hassan looked tired too—he’d lost weight and gray circles had formed under his puffed-up eyes.
From "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini
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.
