grandiloquent
Extravagantly lofty speaking
Grandiloquent describes speech or writing that is pompous, extravagantly lofty, or inflated beyond what the subject warrants.
The word carries a note of criticism—someone grandiloquent seems to be showing off rather than communicating clearly: His grandiloquent acceptance speech tested the audience's patience.
The noun is grandiloquence.
Using pompous, elevated rhetoric
- orotundBombastically resonant in speech
- turgidSwollen or pompous
- floridExcessively ornate or ruddy
- purpleHue between crimson and azure
fustian · highfalutin · overblown · inflated · overwrought · sesquipedalian · declamatory · sonorous
Showily excessive
- flamboyantStrikingly bold in style
- showyExcessively eye-catching
- extravagantExceeding sensible bounds
- dramaticStrikingly expressive or sudden
histrionic · exaggerated · effusive · flowery · fulsome · over-the-top · attention-seeking · performative
Using language for effect
- declamatoryPompously rhetorical in style
- speechifyingDelivering pompous addresses
- oratoryFormal eloquent discourse
- stentorianExtremely loud and resonant
silver-tongued · articulate · persuasive · soaring · resounding · thundering · ringing · impassioned
Exaggerating one's own significance
- vaingloriousBoastfully proud, ostentatiously so
- pretentiousFalsely grand or important
- haughtyDisdainfully proud
- superciliousArrogantly contemptuous of others
imperious · condescending · patronizing · lofty · grandiose · swaggering · puffed-up · bloviating
magniloquent
Using pompous, elevated rhetoric
purple · fustian · highfalutin · overblown · inflated · overwrought · sesquipedalian · declamatory · sonorous · verbose
ostentatious
Showily excessive
- flamboyantStrikingly bold in style
- showyExcessively eye-catching
- extravagantExceeding sensible bounds
dramatic · histrionic · exaggerated · effusive · flowery · fulsome · over-the-top · attention-seeking · performative · melodramatic
rhetorical
Using language for effect
- declamatoryPompously rhetorical in style
- speechifyingDelivering pompous addresses
- oratoryFormal eloquent discourse
stentorian · silver-tongued · articulate · persuasive · soaring · resounding · thundering · ringing · impassioned · rousing
self-important
Exaggerating one's own significance
- vaingloriousBoastfully proud, ostentatiously so
- pretentiousFalsely grand or important
- haughtyDisdainfully proud
supercilious · imperious · condescending · patronizing · lofty · grandiose · swaggering · puffed-up · bloviating · pontificating
- speaking stylesarticulate, blunt, candid, conversational, casual
- rhetoricrhetoric, persuasion, oratory, argumentation, debate
- fancy wordsmagniloquent, sesquipedalian, pulchritudinous, tintinnabulation, tergiversation
- arrogancearrogant, conceited, pompous, vain, haughty
- ornate thingsornate, decorative, baroque, rococo, gilded
grandiloquentplain
Basic and unremarkable
simple · plainspoken · unadorned · spare · stark
grandiloquentunpretentious
Lacking false superiority
understated · plainspoken · straightforward · direct · modest