bombast
Syllables: bom·bast/ˈbɒmbæst/US/ˈbɑmbæst/
bombast noun: cotton, or cotton wool.
Noun
bombast (countable and uncountable, plural bombasts)
- Cotton, or cotton wool.
- SURBATING; a Diſtemper in a Horſe, who is ſaid to be ſurbated, when the Sole is worn, bruiſed or ſpoiled by travelling without Shoes, or with ill ſhoeing: [...] take Frankincenſe, and rolling it in a little fine Cotton Wool or Bombaſt, with a hot Iron melt it into the Foot betwixt the Shoe and the...1725, [Noël] Chomel, “SURBATING”, in R[ichard] Bradley, editor, Dictionaire Oeconomique: Or, The Family Dictionary. […], volume II (I–Z), London: […] D[aniel] Midwinter, […], →OCLC, column 2
- This strange wool-bearing plant is of the mallow tribe. [...] Another name formerly given to the vegetable fleece was bombast. This word was in use before our ancestors were skilful enough to weave the cotton wool which was brought to them from the East in the merchant ships of Venice and Genoa....[[1874], S. W[arren], “The Wool-bearing Shrub”, in Cotton, London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge; New York, N.Y.: Pott, Young, & Co., →OCLC, page 14
- Synonyms:
- fustian
- Cotton, or any soft, fibrous material, used as stuffing for garments; stuffing, padding.
- [C]ertayne I am there was neuer any kinde of apparell euer inuented, that could more diſproportion the body of man, then theſe Dublettes with great bellies hanging downe beneath their Pudenda, (as I haue ſayd) & ſtuffed with foure, fiue, or ſixe pound of Bombaſt at the least: [...]1585, Phillip Stubbes [i.e., Philip Stubbs], The Anatomie of Abuses: Contayning a Discouerie, or Briefe Summarie of such Notable Vices and Imperfections, as now Raigne in Many Christian Countreyes of...
- Heere comes leane Iacke, heere comes bare-bone. How now my ſweet Creature of Bombaſt, how long is't agoe, Iacke, ſince thou ſaw'ſt thine owne Knee?c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
- High-sounding words; language above the dignity of the occasion; a pompous or ostentatious manner of writing or speaking.
- Bombaſt and Buffoonry, by Nature lofty and light, ſoar higheſt of all, [...]1704, [Jonathan Swift], “Section I. The Introduction.”, in A Tale of a Tub. […], London: […] John Nutt, […], →OCLC, page 40
- And let burleſque in ballads be employ'd; / Yet noiſy bombaſt carefully avoid, / Nor think to raiſe, tho on Pharſalia's plain, "Millions of mourning mountains of the ſlain:" [...]1760, John Dryden, “The Art of Poetry”, in Samuel Derrick, editor, The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, Esq; Containing All His Original Poems, Tales, and Translations. […], volume I, London: […]...
- Synonyms:
- aureation, bombard phrase, fustian, grandiloquence, purple prose
Verb
bombast (third-person singular simple present bombasts, present participle bombasting, simple past and past participle bombasted)
- To swell or fill out; to inflate, to pad.
- Their doctrine is to be seen in Jacob Behmen's books by him that hath nothing else to do, than to bestow a great deal of time to understand him that was not willing to be easily understood, and to know that his bombasted words do signify nothing more than before was easily known by common familiar...1820, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “Notes on [Richard] Baxter’s Life of Himself”, in Henry Nelson Coleridge, editor, The Literary Remains of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, volume IV, London: William Pickering...
- To use high-sounding words; to speak or write in a pompous or ostentatious manner.
- [']The ugly truth is, Gerald,' she said viciously, 'that you're a phoney, a rotten, bombasting phoney, trying to cover up from all the world,[…][']1968, Christianna Brand, What Dread Hand?: A Collection of Short Stories, London: Michael Joseph, →OCLC
Adjective
bombast (comparative more bombast, superlative most bombast)
- Big without meaning, or high-sounding; bombastic, inflated; magniloquent.
- But he (as louing his owne pride, and purpoſes) / Euades them, with a bumbaſt Circumſtance, / Horribly ſtufft with Epithites of warre, / Non-ſuites my Mediators.c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
- 'Tis not ſuch Lines as almoſt crack the Stage. / When Bajazet begins to rage. / Nor a tall Met'phor in the Bombaſt way, / Nor the dry chips of ſhort-lung'd Seneca.1678, Abraham Cowley, “Ode. Of Wit.”, in The Works of Mr. Abraham Cowley. […], 5th edition, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for Henry Herringman, […], →OCLC, stanza 7, page 3
- Synonyms:
- aureate, highfalutin
bombast meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam and Indonesian
bombast in Hindi
- bombast, extravagant language, verbosity
- शब्दाडंबर śabdāḍambar
bombast in Tamil
- ஆடம்பர பேச்சு, எழுத்து, மிகைப்பேச்சு, வாய்ப்பந்தல், வீண்புகழ்ச்சி, வீம்பு
bombast in Malayalam
- pomposity, bluster, empty talk
- വാചാടോപം, ശബ്ദഘോഷം, ശബ്ദാഡംബരം, ശബ്ദകോലാഹലം, നിരർത്ഥകമായ ശബ്ദധോരണി, വലിയ വാക്കുപയോഗിച്ചുള്ള നിസ്സാരസംഭാഷണം
bombast in Indonesian
- High-sounding words; language above the dignity of the occasion; a pompous or ostentatious manner of writing or speaking
- bombas
Examples of bombast in a sentence
- This strange wool-bearing plant is of the mallow tribe. [...] Another name formerly given to the vegetable fleece was bombast.[[1874], S. W[arren], “The Wool-bearing Shrub”, in Cotton, London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge; New York, N.Y.: Pott, Young...
- At least for one night, Donald Trump put aside the bombast and bellicosity of a campaign that seemed to bleed into his presidency.2017 March 1, Anthony Zurcher, “Trump addresses Congress: A kinder, gentler president”, in BBC News, archived from the original on 05 Jun...
Synonyms of bombast
Forms of bombast
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | bombasts |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | bombasts |
| present participle | bombasting |
| past participle | bombasted |
| past | bombasted |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more bombast |
| superlative | most bombast |
Origin of bombast
From Old French bombace (“cotton, cotton wadding”), from Late Latin bombax (“cotton”), a variant of bombyx (“silkworm”), from Ancient Greek βόμβυξ (bómbux, “silkworm”), possibly related to Middle Persian pmbk' (“cotton”), from a Proto-Indo-European root meaning “to twist, wind”.
Words formed from bombast
Questions about bombast
- What does bombast mean?
- Bombast means cotton, or cotton wool.
- What is bombast in Hindi?
- Bombast in Hindi is शब्दाडंबर (śabdāḍambar). See Bombast meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use bombast in a sentence?
- This strange wool-bearing plant is of the mallow tribe. [...] Another name formerly given to the vegetable fleece was bombast.
- What part of speech is bombast?
- Bombast can be a noun, a verb or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce bombast?
- Bombast is pronounced /ˈbɒmbæst/ (UK).
- What is the plural of bombast?
- The plural of bombast is bombasts.
Words near bombast in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: bombast (page history and authors); शब्दाडंबर (Hindi) (page history and authors); bombast (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); bombast (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-bombast.wav.
Cite this entry: “bombast.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bombast. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.