different between bombastic vs bombast

English

Alternative forms

• bombastical (archaic)
• bombastick (obsolete)
• bumbastic, bumbastical (obsolete)

Etymology

18th century, from bombast (“padding, stuffing”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /b?m?bæs.t?k/
• (US) IPA^(key): /b?m?bæs.t??k/
• Rhymes: -æst?k

Adjective

bombastic (comparative more bombastic, superlative most bombastic)

1. (of a person, their language or writing) showy in speech and given to using flowery or elaborate terms; grandiloquent; pompous

   See Thesaurus:verbose or Thesaurus:arrogant

2. High-sounding but with little meaning.
3. (archaic) Inflated, overfilled.

   Synonyms: inflated, turgid

Antonyms

• (pompous or overly wordy): See Thesaurus:concise

Related terms

Descendants

Translations

Romanian

Etymology

From German bombastisch

Adjective

bombastic m or n (feminine singular bombastic?, masculine plural bombastici, feminine and neuter plural bombastice)

1. bombastic

Declension

English

Etymology

From Old French bombace (“cotton, cotton wadding”), from Late Latin bombax (“cotton”), a variant of bombyx (“silkworm”), from Ancient Greek ?????? (bómbux, “silkworm”), possibly related to Middle Persian pmbk' (“cotton”), from a Proto-Indo-European root meaning “to twist, wind”.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?b?mbæst/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?b?mbæst/
• Hyphenation: bom?bast

Noun

bombast (countable and uncountable, plural bombasts)

1. (archaic) Cotton, or cotton wool.

   Synonym: fustian
2. (archaic) Cotton, or any soft, fibrous material, used as stuffing for garments; stuffing, padding.
3. (figuratively) High-sounding words; language above the dignity of the occasion; a pompous or ostentatious manner of writing or speaking.

   Synonyms: aureation, (obsolete) bombard phrase, fustian, grandiloquence, purple prose

Derived terms

• bombastic
• bombastical
• bombastically
• bombastry

Translations

Verb

bombast (third-person singular simple present bombasts, present participle bombasting, simple past and past participle bombasted)

1. To swell or fill out; to inflate, to pad.
2. To use high-sounding words; to speak or write in a pompous or ostentatious manner.

Translations

Adjective

bombast (comparative more bombast, superlative most bombast)

1. Big without meaning, or high-sounding; bombastic, inflated; magniloquent.

   Synonyms: aureate, highfalutin

References

Further reading

• fustian on Wikipedia.Wikipedia