bombastic
English
WOTD – 3 January 2008
Alternative forms
- bombastical (archaic)
- bombastick (obsolete)
- bumbastic, bumbastical (obsolete)
Etymology
From bombast (“padding, stuffing”) + -ic, 18th century. Sense evolution possibly influenced by unrelated bomb and bombard; see also bombard phrase.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /bɒmˈbæs.tɪk/
- (US) IPA(key): /bɑmˈbæs.tɪk/
Audio (US): (file) Audio (General Australian): (file) - Rhymes: -æstɪk
- Hyphenation: bom‧bas‧tic
Adjective
bombastic (comparative more bombastic, superlative most bombastic)
- (of a person, their language or writing) showy in speech and given to using flowery or elaborate terms; grandiloquent; pompous
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:verbose, Thesaurus:arrogant
- Antonyms: see Thesaurus:concise
- High-sounding but with little meaning.
- (archaic) Inflated, overfilled.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Related terms
Descendants
- → French: bombastique
- → Portuguese: bombástico
- → Spanish: bombástico
Translations
pompous or overly wordy
|
high-sounding but with little meaning
|
inflated, overfilled
|
Romanian
Etymology
Borrowed from German bombastisch.
Adjective
bombastic m or n (feminine singular bombastică, masculine plural bombastici, feminine and neuter plural bombastice)
Declension
| singular | plural | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| masculine | neuter | feminine | masculine | neuter | feminine | |||
| nominative- accusative |
indefinite | bombastic | bombastică | bombastici | bombastice | |||
| definite | bombasticul | bombastica | bombasticii | bombasticele | ||||
| genitive- dative |
indefinite | bombastic | bombastice | bombastici | bombastice | |||
| definite | bombasticului | bombasticei | bombasticilor | bombasticelor | ||||