Word.ws English Dictionary

lexiphanic

lexiphanic adjective: using bombastic or pretentious wording or language.

Adjective (1)

lexiphanic (comparative more lexiphanic, superlative most lexiphanic)

  1. Using bombastic or pretentious wording or language.
    • Dr. Johnson has given an explanation of this passage, which is an amusing specimen of his Lexiphanic style: "to feel the convulsions of eructation without plenitude."1852, Charles Knight, editor, The Comedies, Histories, Tragedies, and Poems of William Shakspere: Tragedies, vol. 2., page 128
    Synonyms:
    magniloquent

Noun

lexiphanic (plural lexiphanics)

  1. (rare) One who uses bombastic or pretentious wording or language.
    • The printer who undertook the work deſerves much credit, inasmuch as he had before him the numerous remnants of periodical magazines, which have lived to die a ſpeedy death, & which are ſufficient to terrify any one actuated by the motives of certain intereſt, and an inſured return. Every father...1801 October 12, “The Monthly Review. [From the Philadelphia American Daily Advertiser.]”, in The Independent Chronicle: and Universal Advertiser, volume XXXIII, number 2143, Boston, Mass.: Adams &...
    • So what can you possibly say about someone who has actually compiled a dictionary of long and unusual words? […] “But Mrs. Byrne,” I said, “don’t you feel your dictionary might just metagrobolise (mystify) the average man and, worse, turn the harageous rodomontades (bold braggarts) among us into...1979 November 22, Stephen Downes, “Secrets of a chronic logolept”, in The Age, 126th year, Melbourne, Vic., →OCLC, page 11, column 4
    Synonyms:
    lexiphane

Adjective (2) capitalized: Lexiphanic

Lexiphanic (comparative more Lexiphanic, superlative most Lexiphanic)

  1. Alternative letter-case form of lexiphanic.
    • I immediately perceived, and was very forceably ſtruck with the ſtrong reſemblance there ſubſiſts between Mr. [Samuel] J[ohnso]n’s character, and that of the Limouſin ſcholar in [François] Rabelais, and of Lexiphanes in Lucian. And I concluded, that an imitation of the latter would be admirably...1767, [Archibald Campbell], “To the Right Honourable George, Lord Lyttleton”, in Lexiphanes, a Dialogue. […], London: […] J[ohn] Knox […], →OCLC, pages vi–vii
    • It is to be obſerved, that in this ſcene Mercury ſometimes ſpeaks a different language from what he uſes in the firſt. In this he often ſpeaks, if I may expreſs myſelf ſo, in the Lexiphanic ſtyle, in order to conform the better to the prevailing taſte of his hearers. See the dialogue, intiteld...1767, [Archibald Campbell], scene II, in The Sale of Authors, a Dialogue, in Imitation of Lucian’s Sale of Philosophers, London: […] Booksellers in London and Westminster, →OCLC, footnote, page 18

Examples of lexiphanic in a sentence

  • He will find ſound religion, and uſeful information upon all ſubjects, conveyed in chaſte language, and in a ſtile free from the bombaſt of the Lexiphanic, or the puerility of the hireling.1801 October 12, “The Monthly Review. [From the Philadelphia American Daily Advertiser.]”, in The Independent Chronicle: and Universal...
  • Lexiphanics, especially those who write for a living, usually have to hide their penchant for words from slashing editors, to whom such tendencies are anathema.1983 April 9, Carol Goodwin, “Sesquipedalian nimiety is fustian”, in Kitchener-Waterloo Record, city edition, 106th year, Kitchener, Ont....
  • Needed someone like you calling out the phoney lexiphanics.2019 April 3, @VedangChauhan, Twitter (post):

Synonyms of lexiphanic

Forms of lexiphanic

Adjective
comparativemore lexiphanic
superlativemost lexiphanic
alternative formLexiphanic
comparativemore Lexiphanic
superlativemost Lexiphanic
Noun
plurallexiphanics

Origin of lexiphanic

From Lexiphan(es) + -ic, after a character in the works of Lucian. Coined by the Scottish satirist Archibald Campbell as Lexiphanick, Lexiphanic in 1767.

Words formed from lexiphanic

Questions about lexiphanic

What does lexiphanic mean?
Lexiphanic means using bombastic or pretentious wording or language.
How do you use lexiphanic in a sentence?
He will find ſound religion, and uſeful information upon all ſubjects, conveyed in chaſte language, and in a ſtile free from the bombaſt of the Lexiphanic, or the puerility of the hireling.
What part of speech is lexiphanic?
Lexiphanic can be an adjective or a noun.

Words near lexiphanic in the dictionary

  1. Lexingtonian
  2. Lexingtonians
  3. lexipafant
  4. lexiphane
  5. lexiphanes
  6. lexiphanic
  7. lexiphanical
  8. lexiphanically
  9. lexiphanicism
  10. lexiphanicisms
  11. lexiphanics

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: lexiphanic (page history and authors); Lexiphanic (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.

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