bombast

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bom·bast

(bŏm′băst′)

1. Grandiloquent, pompous speech or writing.

2. Grandiose or overpowering expression, as in music or painting.

[Alteration of obsolete bombace, cotton padding, from Old French, from Medieval Latin bombax, bombac-, cotton; see bombazine.]

bom′bast′er n.

bom·bas′tic adj.

bom·bas′ti·cal·ly adv.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

bombast

(ˈbɒmbæst)

1. pompous and grandiloquent language

2. obsolete material used for padding

[C16: from Old French bombace, from Medieval Latin bombāx cotton; see bombacaceous]

bomˈbastic adj

bomˈbastically adv

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

bom•bast

(ˈbɒm bæst)

n.

1. pompous oratory or pretentious writing.

2. Obs. cotton or other material used to stuff garments; padding.

adj.

3. Obs. bombastic.

[1560–70; earlier bombace padding < Middle French < Medieval Latin bombācem, acc. of bombāx; silk, cotton]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun

bombast - pompous or pretentious talk or writing

blah, claptrap, fustian, rant

grandiloquence, grandiosity, magniloquence, ornateness, rhetoric - high-flown style; excessive use of verbal ornamentation; "the grandiosity of his prose"; "an excessive ornateness of language"

bombast

noun pomposity, ranting, bragging, hot air (informal), bluster, grandiosity, braggadocio, grandiloquence, rodomontade (literary), gasconade (rare), extravagant boasting, magniloquence There were men aboard who could not tolerate his bombast.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

bombast

noun

Pretentious, pompous speech or writing:

claptrap, fustian, grandiloquence, magniloquence, orotundity, rant, turgidity.

Translations

emphase

magniloquenza

bombast

[ˈbɒmbæst] N (= pomposity) → ampulosidad f, rimbombancia f; (= words) → palabras fpl altisonantes, rimbombancia f; (= boasts) → bravatas fpl

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

bombast

n → Schwulst m, → Bombast m

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

bombast

[ˈbɒmbæst] n → magniloquenza

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References in classic literature ?

Thus the heroe is always introduced with a flourish of drums and trumpets, in order to rouse a martial spirit in the audience, and to accommodate their ears to bombast and fustian, which Mr Locke's blind man would not have grossly erred in likening to the sound of a trumpet.

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He found that he could look back upon the brass and bombast of his earlier gospels and see them truly.

View in context

Ordinarily I am not given to long speeches, nor ever before had I descended to bombast, but I had guessed at the keynote which would strike an answering chord in the breasts of the green Martians, nor was I wrong, for my harangue evidently deeply impressed them, and their attitude toward me thereafter was still further respectful.