Word.ws English Dictionary

grandstanding

grandstanding noun: dramatic or showy behavior intended to impress an audience or observers. Also the present participle and gerund of grandstand.

Noun

grandstanding (usually uncountable, plural grandstandings)

  1. (usually) Dramatic or showy behavior intended to impress an audience or observers.
    • Yes, there were instances of grandstanding and obsessive behaviour, but many were concealed at the time to help protect an aggressively peddled narrative of [Oscar] Pistorius the paragon, the emblem, the trailblazer.2014 October 21, Oliver Brown, “Oscar Pistorius jailed for five years – sport afforded no protection against his tragic fallibilities: Bladerunner's punishment for killing Reeva Steenkamp is but a...
    • "We are tired of the shutdowns and the showdowns, the gridlock and the grandstanding," Klobuchar said in a speech to supporters. "Our nation must be governed not from chaos but from opportunity. Not by wallowing over what’s wrong, but by marching inexorably toward what’s right."2019 February 10, Elena Schneider, "Klobuchar jumps into presidential race"

Also used as

grandstanding is also the present participle and gerund of grandstand.

Forms of grandstanding

pluralgrandstandings

Origin of grandstanding

From grandstand + -ing.

Words formed from grandstanding

Questions about grandstanding

What does grandstanding mean?
Grandstanding means dramatic or showy behavior intended to impress an audience or observers.
What part of speech is grandstanding?
Grandstanding is a noun.
What is the plural of grandstanding?
The plural of grandstanding is grandstandings.

Words near grandstanding in the dictionary

  1. grandstand play
  2. grandstand plays
  3. grandstanded
  4. grandstander
  5. grandstanders
  6. grandstanding
  7. grandstandings
  8. grandstands
  9. Grandtully
  10. granduncle
  11. granduncles

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: grandstanding (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-grandstanding.oga.

Cite this entry: “grandstanding.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/grandstanding. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.