grandiloquent
/ɡranˈdɪləkwənt
/adjective
Pompous or extravagant in language, style, or manner, especially in a way that is intended to impress: a grandiloquent celebration of Spanish glory...
- They feel so let down by a government that promised the earth - wonderful phrases, and grandiloquent language.
- He duplicates the editors' preface in a rather grandiloquent manner.
- Johnson's expression is manly, vigorous, grandiloquent and bombastic.
Synonyms
pompous, bombastic, magniloquent, pretentious, ostentatious, high-flown, high-sounding, rhetorical, orotund, fustian, florid, flowery;
laboured, strained, overwrought, overblown, overripe, overdone;
wordy, periphrastic;
epic, Homeric, Miltonian
informal highfalutin, purple
rare tumid, pleonastic, euphuistic, aureate, hyperventilated
Derivatives
grandiloquence
/ noun ...- Now that I've said that, allow me to apologize for the grandiloquence and pomposity of that preceding paragraph.
- Nevertheless, he has his moments of loopy grandiloquence.
- There is no playing to the gallery, no verbal gymnastics, certainly no grandiloquence.
grandiloquently
/ adverb ...- Such an ambition is both clear and ‘not too grandiloquently vast’.
- Fernandes has thanked him grandiloquently for having saved India.
- ‘My Lord Philip,’ She announced grandiloquently, ‘We are going to elope.’
Origin
Late 16th century: from Latin grandiloquus, literally 'grand-speaking', from grandis 'grand' + loqui 'speak'. The ending was altered in English by association with eloquent.