grandiloquent

gran·dil·o·quence

(grăn-dĭl′ə-kwəns)

Pompous or bombastic speech or expression.

[From grandiloquent, from Latin grandiloquus : grandis, great + loquī, to speak; see tolk^w- in Indo-European roots.]

gran·dil′o·quent adj.

gran·dil′o·quent·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.

grandiloquent

(ɡrænˈdɪləkwənt)

adj

inflated, pompous, or bombastic in style or expression

[C16: from Latin grandiloquus, from grandis great + loquī to speak]

granˈdiloquence n

granˈdiloquently adv

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

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Adj.	1.	grandiloquent - lofty in style; "he engages in so much tall talk, one never really realizes what he is saying" magniloquent, tall rhetorical - given to rhetoric, emphasizing style at the expense of thought; "mere rhetorical frippery"
	2.	grandiloquent - puffed up with vanity; "a grandiloquent and boastful manner"; "overblown oratory"; "a pompous speech"; "pseudo-scientific gobbledygook and pontifical hooey"- Newsweek overblown, pompous, pontifical, portentous pretentious - making claim to or creating an appearance of (often undeserved) importance or distinction; "a pretentious country house"; "a pretentious fraud"; "a pretentious scholarly edition"

grandiloquent

adjective pompous, inflated, rhetorical, high-flown, pretentious, flowery, bombastic, high-sounding, fustian, orotund She attacked her colleagues for indulging in 'grandiloquent' language.

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

grandiloquent

adjective

Characterized by language that is elevated and sometimes pompous in style:

aureate, bombastic, declamatory, flowery, fustian, high-flown, high-sounding, magniloquent, orotund, overblown, rhetorical, sonorous, swollen.

Translations

grandilocuente grandílocuo

mahtipontinensuurieleinen

grandiloquent

dagályosszónokias

ampolloso magniloquente

górnolotnygrandilokwentny

grandiloquent

[grænˈdɪləkwənt] ADJ → altisonante, grandilocuente

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

grandiloquent

[grænˈdɪləkwənt] adj [language] → grandiloquent(e)

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

grandiloquent

adj (form) language, style, speech → hochtrabend; gesture → übertrieben; description → grandios

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

References in classic literature ?

Applied to any other creature than the Leviathan --to an ant or a flea --such portly terms might justly be deemed unwarrantably grandiloquent. But when Leviathan is the text, the case is altered.

View in context

"Lord God of might, God of our salvation!" began the priest in that voice, clear, not grandiloquent but mild, in which only the Slav clergy read and which acts so irresistibly on a Russian heart.

View in context

To all his grandiloquent account of the bald-headed chief and his countrymen, the Big Hearts of the East, his cousin listened with great attention, and replied in the customary style of Indian welcome.

View in context

If, however, it were the fact that such a history were in existence, it must necessarily, being the story of a knight-errant, be grandiloquent, lofty, imposing, grand and true.

View in context

Sapsea, in a grandiloquent state of absence of mind, seems to refill his visitor's glass, which is full already; and does really refill his own, which is empty.

View in context

Mr Wegg was going to say, My Benefactor, and had said My Bene, when a grandiloquent change came over him.

View in context

"No, I am studying," answered the young man, somewhat surprised at the grandiloquent style of the speaker and also at being so directly addressed.

View in context

"I sent for you," said he, in a grandiloquent tone, when I had completed my examination of the beetle, "I sent for you, that I might have your counsel and assistance in furthering the views of Fate and of the bug" -

View in context

The search for conflict resolution, or its grandiloquent avatar, world peace, has been a central objective of Indian foreign policy ever since India won freedom.

Indian Foreign Policy dynamics

By commencing the text with the grandiloquent yet, in practical terms, ambiguous declaration that 'Whereas sovereignty over the entire universe belongs to Almighty God alone, ...' the Resolution initiated a conflicting process for almost diametrically opposite views about how such divine, supreme sovereignty was to be given practical form through mortal human beings.

In search of novelty

The PMB-led administration's commitment to democracy is a laughable exercise in grandiloquent, quixotic pomposity that exists only on paper.

June 12 And Hypocrisies After The Fact

Il y va de la fete de la couleur lorsqu'elle tire vers le plein jour, le fastueusement grandiloquent, meme dans la douleur.Toutefois, c'est une multiplicite restreinte et maitrisee, car elle vise a cerner l'apparence de l'etre sur l'espace du tableau tel que l'apprehende l'artiste, et ainsi delivrer les sensations qui la rendent effective et palpable.