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Pompous vs Bombastic - What's the difference?

pompous | bombastic |

Bombastic is a synonym of pompous.



As adjectives the difference between pompous and bombastic

is that pompous is affectedly grand, solemn or self-important while bombastic is showy in speech and given to using flowery or elaborate terms; grandiloquent; pompous.

pompous

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Affectedly grand, solemn or self-important.
  • * 1848, , Bantam Classics (1997), 16:
  • "Not that the parting speech caused Amelia to philosophise, or that it armed her in any way with a calmness, the result of argument; but it was intolerably dull, pompous , and tedious; and having the fear of her schoolmistress greatly before her eyes, Miss Sedley did not venture, in her presence, to give way to any ebullitions of private grief."

    Synonyms

    * conceited * smug * See also

    Antonyms

    * humble * modest * self-effacing

    bombastic

    English

    Alternative forms

    * bombastick (obsolete)

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • showy in speech and given to using flowery or elaborate terms; grandiloquent; pompous
  • High-sounding but with little meaning.
  • (archaic) Inflated, overfilled.
  • Synonyms

    * (pompous or overly wordy) blustering, grandiloquent, pompous, verbose, florid * inflated, turgid

    Antonyms

    * (pompous or overly wordy) concise, succinct

    Descendants

    * French: bombastique * Spanish: