different between pontificate vs bloviate

English

Etymology 1

From Latin pontificatus, from pontifex (“high priest”), from pons (“bridge”) + facere (“make”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /p?n?t?f?k?t/
• (US) IPA^(key): /p??n?t?f?k?t/

Noun

pontificate (plural pontificates)

1. The status or term of office of a pontiff or pontifex.

Translations

Etymology 2

From the past participle stem of mediaeval Latin pontificare (“pontificate”), from Latin pontifex (“high priest”), from pons (“bridge”) + facere (“make”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /p?n?t?f?ke?t/
• (US) IPA^(key): /p??n?t?f?ke?t/

Verb

pontificate (third-person singular simple present pontificates, present participle pontificating, simple past and past participle pontificated)

1. (intransitive) To preside as a bishop, especially at mass.
2. (intransitive) To act like a pontiff; to express one's position or opinions dogmatically and pompously as if they were absolutely correct.
3. (intransitive) To speak in a patronizing, supercilious or pompous manner, especially at length.

Translations

Italian

Verb

pontificate

1. second-person plural present indicative of pontificare
2. second-person plural imperative of pontificare
3. feminine plural of pontificato

English

Etymology

1845, US, Ohio, from blow (“speak idly, boast”) + -i- +? -ate, by analogy with deviate.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?blo?.vi?e?t/

Verb

bloviate (third-person singular simple present bloviates, present participle bloviating, simple past and past participle bloviated)

1. (US) To speak or discourse at length in a pompous or boastful manner.
   • 1845, Huron Reflector, Norwalk, Ohio, 14 Oct. 3/1:

     Peter P. Low, Esq., will with open throat…bloviate about the farmers being taxed upon the full value of their farms, while bankers are released from taxation.

Usage notes

Particularly used of politicians, bloviate has passed in and out of fashion over the centuries, falling out of fashion by end of 19th century, but was popularized in the early 1920s with reference to president Warren G. Harding, again in the 1990s, and then once more during the 2000 presidential election.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:talk.

Derived terms

• bloviatingly
• bloviation
• bloviative
• bloviator
• bloviatory
• bloviatrix

Related terms

• blowhard

Translations

See also

• windbag
• Appendix:Fanciful 19th century American coinages

References

• Allan A. Metcalf (2004), Presidential voices: speaking styles from George Washington to George W. Bush, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, “Once More the Bloviator”, pp. 134–135, ?ISBN

Anagrams

• oblative