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Boast vs Bluster - What's the difference?

boast | bluster |

As nouns the difference between boast and bluster

is that boast is a brag, a loud positive appraisal of oneself while bluster is pompous, officious talk.

As verbs the difference between boast and bluster

is that boast is to brag; to talk loudly in praise of oneself or boast can be (masonry) to dress, as a stone, with a broad chisel while bluster is to speak or protest loudly.

boast

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) boosten, bosten, from .

Noun

(en noun)
  • A brag, a loud positive appraisal of oneself.
  • (squash) A shot where the ball is driven off a side wall and then strikes the front wall.

    • Verb

    (en verb)
  • To brag; to talk loudly in praise of oneself.
  • * 2005 , (Plato), Sophist . Translation by Lesley Brown. .
    • On no account will he or any other kind be able to boast that he's escaped the pursuit of those who can follow so detailed and comprehensive a method of enquiry.
  • To speak of with pride, vanity, or exultation, with a view to self-commendation; to extol.
  • * (John Milton)
    • Lest bad men should boast / Their specious deeds.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-21, author=(Oliver Burkeman)
    • , volume=189, issue=2, page=27, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= The tao of tech , passage=The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about "creating compelling content", or offering services that let you "stay up to date with what your friends are doing",
  • (obsolete) To speak in exulting language of another; to glory; to exult.
  • * Bible, Psalms xiiv. 8
    • In God we boast all the day long.
  • (squash) To play a .
  • (ergative) To possess something special.
    • Synonyms
    * brag
    Derived terms
    * boastful * boastfully * outboast

    Etymology 2

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (masonry) To dress, as a stone, with a broad chisel.
    • (Weale)
  • (sculpting) To shape roughly as a preparation for the finer work to follow; to cut to the general form required.

    • Anagrams

    * * English reporting verbs

    bluster

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Pompous, officious talk.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=70, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= Engineers of a different kind , passage=Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers. Piling debt onto companies’ balance-sheets is only a small part of what leveraged buy-outs are about, they insist. Improving the workings of the businesses they take over is just as core to their calling, if not more so. Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster .}}
  • A gust of wind.
  • Fitful noise and violence.

    • Synonyms

    * (pompous talk) bombast

    Verb

  • To speak or protest loudly.
    • When confronted by opposition his reaction was to bluster , which often cowed the meek.
  • To act or speak in an unduly threatening manner.
  • * Burke
    • Your ministerial directors blustered like tragic tyrants.
  • * Sir T. More
    • He bloweth and blustereth out his abominable blasphemy.
  • * Fuller
    • As if therewith he meant to bluster all princes into a perfect obedience to his commands.
  • To blow in strong or sudden gusts.
  • * Milton
    • And ever-threatening storms / Of Chaos blustering round.

    Derived terms

    * blusterer * blustering * blusterous * blustery

    Anagrams

    * *