thrasonical
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of thrasonical
1555–65; < Latin Thrasōn- (stem of Thrasō, braggart in Terence's Eunuchus ) + -ical
Explanation
Do you know a thrasonical person, someone who's always bragging, acting superior, or making exaggerated claims? If so, you've probably discovered that being thrasonical is a real turn-off! Thrasonical comes from Thraso, the name of a character in a comedy called The Eunuch, written by a Roman playwright in the 2nd century BCE. In the play, Thraso is a rich, arrogant army officer who boasts and brags to impress a woman. Apparently the play was very successful, but it wasn't entirely original: The playwright, Terence, borrowed the basic story and characters from an earlier Greek play written by Menander. Feel free to impress people by using the fancy word thrasonical and telling the story about its origins — but try not to act in a thrasonical manner when you do so!
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.
Thus, O thrasonical coward, is your emptiness exposed.
From Scaramouche by Sabatini, Rafael
His humor is lofty, his discourse peremptory, his tongue filed, his eye ambitious, his gait majestical, and his general behavior vain, ridiculous, and thrasonical....
From Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol. 1 A Revised American Edition of the Reader's Handbook by Brewer, Ebenezer Cobham
Unlike the ordinary soldier of fortune, he was not in the least thrasonical.
From The Dictator by McCarthy, Justin
You may think so if you choose—that I am afraid to do slyly and treacherously that which a thrasonical patriot like yourself is afraid of doing frankly and openly.
From Scaramouche by Sabatini, Rafael
His "thrasonical boast" was sober truth, and he stands above military or literary criticism, a lesson and a model.
From The Life of Froude by Paul, Herbert W. (Herbert Woodfield)
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.
