bombastic
Syllables: bom·bas·ticUK/bɒmˈbæs.tɪk//bɑmˈbæs.tɪk/
bombastic adjective: showy in speech and given to using flowery or elaborate terms; grandiloquent; pompous.
Adjective
bombastic (comparative more bombastic, superlative most bombastic)
- showy in speech and given to using flowery or elaborate terms; grandiloquent; pompous
- Dorsett came up the stairs, buggy whip in hand. He bustled into the office in his usual self‐important way. Frank noticed that the old clerk sat down on him promptly. He was not one bit impressed with the bombastic visitor from Greenville.1907, Allen Chapman, Bound to Succeed
- Synonyms:
- circumlocutory, diffuse, periphrastic, palaverous, pleonastic, prolix, rigmarole, sesquipedalian, verbose, wordy
- Antonyms:
- brief, concise, crisp, laconic, lapidary, short-winded, succinct, tight, to the point, taut
- High‐sounding but with little meaning.
- Synonyms:
- rhetorical
- Loud, aggressive, highly exaggerated, or explosive in manner or delivery; over‐the‐top.
- Inflated, overfilled.
bombastic meaning in Bengali, Malayalam and Punjabi
bombastic in Bengali
- শব্দাড়ম্বরপূর্ণ কিন্তু অন্তঃসারশূন্য, উচ্চাভিলাষী কিন্তু অর্থহীন কথা
bombastic in Malayalam
- blustering, pompous, turgid
- നിരർത്ഥകമായ ശബ്ദധോരണിയുള്ള, വാചാടോപമായ, അനാവശ്യപദപ്രയോഗമുള്ള, ശബ്ദാഡംബരമുള്ള, വൃഥാസ്ഥൂലമായ, ബൃഹച്ഛബ്ദസ്ഫീത
bombastic in Punjabi
- bombastic
- ਧੂੰਆਂਧਾਰ dhū̃āndhār
Synonyms of bombastic
- circumlocutory
- diffuse
- periphrastic
- palaverous
- pleonastic
- prolix
- rigmarole
- sesquipedalian
- verbose
- wordy
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
- airy
- arrogant
- chesty
- authoritarian
- biggity
- big-headed
- blustery
- turgescent
- boastful
- lordly
- cocky
- conceited
- disdainful
- domineering
- egotistical
- entitled
- flaunting
- full of oneself
- grandiose
- hankty
- haughty
- high-handed
- high-hat
- high and mighty
- highfalutin
- hoity-toity
- holier-than-thou
- hubristic
- hubristical
- imperious
Antonyms
1 more antonymsFewer antonyms
Forms of bombastic
| comparative | more bombastic |
|---|---|
| superlative | most bombastic |
| alternative form (archaic) | bombastical |
| alternative form (obsolete) | bombastick |
| alternative form (obsolete) | bumbastic |
| alternative form (obsolete) | bumbastical |
Origin of bombastic
From bombast (“padding, stuffing”) + -ic, 18th century. Sense evolution possibly influenced by unrelated bomb and bombard; see also bombard phrase.
Words formed from bombastic
Words that rhyme with bombastic
- plastic
- elastic
- fantastic
- mastic
- spastic
- heteroplastic
- inelastic
- periphrastic
- pleonastic
- aclastic
- alloplastic
- anaclastic
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- anaplastic
- anticlastic
- aplastic
- autoplastic
- basiplastic
- ceroplastic
- chiastic
- clastic
- cosmoplastic
- drastic
- encomiastic
- enthusiastic
- epispastic
- gelastic
- gymnastic
- heteroblastic
- holophrastic
- homoblastic
- homoplastic
- macroplastic
- normoplastic
- onomastic
- paraphrastic
- sarcastic
- synclastic
- achondroplastic
- agelastic
- antineoplastic
- antiphrastic
- antispastic
- apicoplastic
- autoschediastic
- cataclastic
- chiliastic
- conplastic
- cranioplastic
- docimastic
- dramastic
- dynastic
- dysplastic
- ecclesiastic
- ectoblastic
- ectoplastic
- electroplastic
- emplastic
- epiblastic
- epinastic
- esemplastic
Questions about bombastic
- What does bombastic mean?
- Bombastic means showy in speech and given to using flowery or elaborate terms; grandiloquent; pompous.
- What is bombastic in Bengali?
- Bombastic in Bengali is শব্দাড়ম্বরপূর্ণ কিন্তু অন্তঃসারশূন্য, উচ্চাভিলাষী কিন্তু অর্থহীন কথা. See Bombastic meaning in Bengali.
- What part of speech is bombastic?
- Bombastic is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce bombastic?
- Bombastic is pronounced /bɒmˈbæs.tɪk/ (UK).
Words near bombastic in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: bombastic (page history and authors); bombastic (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); bombastic (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); ਧੂੰਆਂਧਾਰ (Punjabi) (page history and authors). 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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-bombastic.ogg, en-au-bombastic.ogg.
Cite this entry: “bombastic.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bombastic. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.