highfalutin
Snobbishly over-fancy
Highfalutin describes speech, behavior, or ideas that are pretentious or pompous—attempting to sound more important or sophisticated than the substance warrants: His highfalutin rhetoric didn't fool anyone.
The word carries a folksy, down-to-earth flavor, often used by plain speakers dismissing fancy talk: All that highfalutin nonsense about synergy and paradigm shifts.
Also spelled hifalutin.
Disdainfully proud
- superciliousArrogantly contemptuous of others
- snobbishCondescending toward perceived inferiors
- condescendingSuperior and dismissive manner
- disdainfulShowing open contempt
imperious · overbearing · patronizing · conceited · smug · self-important · contemptuous · lordly
Showily excessive
- showyExcessively eye-catching
- affectedArtificially contrived behavior
- pompousAffectedly grand in manner
- grandiosePretentiously impressive in scale
inflated · overblown · bombastic · grandiloquent · magniloquent · flamboyant · theatrical · flashy
More words than necessary
- prolixExcessively wordy in speech
- wordyUsing more language than necessary
- long-windedExcessively wordy, tediously so
- circumlocutorySpeaking in circles
periphrastic · grandiloquent · magniloquent · bombastic · rhetorical · florid · purple · ornate
Artificially contrived behavior
- insincereFeigning belief or feeling
- artificialMade, not natural
- contrivedDeliberately manufactured, unnatural
- put-onDeliberate deception or pretense
phony · pretension · posturing · airs · affectation · superficial · stiff · stilted
haughty
Disdainfully proud
- superciliousArrogantly contemptuous of others
- snobbishCondescending toward perceived inferiors
- condescendingSuperior and dismissive manner
disdainful · imperious · overbearing · patronizing · conceited · smug · self-important · contemptuous · lordly · snooty
ostentatious
Showily excessive
- showyExcessively eye-catching
- affectedArtificially contrived behavior
- pompousAffectedly grand in manner
grandiose · inflated · overblown · bombastic · grandiloquent · magniloquent · flamboyant · theatrical · flashy · gaudy
verbose
More words than necessary
- prolixExcessively wordy in speech
- wordyUsing more language than necessary
- long-windedExcessively wordy, tediously so
circumlocutory · periphrastic · grandiloquent · magniloquent · bombastic · rhetorical · florid · purple · ornate · elaborate
affected
Artificially contrived behavior
- insincereFeigning belief or feeling
- artificialMade, not natural
- contrivedDeliberately manufactured, unnatural
put-on · phony · pretension · posturing · airs · affectation · superficial · stiff · stilted · unnatural
- American slangbamboozle, bogus, bunkum, conniption, discombobulate
- bombastbombast, grandiloquence, magniloquence, pomposity, fustian
- Overblown Wordspompous, bombastic, grandiose, inflated, overblown
- Southern dialecty'all, fixin to, bless your heart, reckon, howdy
- Southwest Slangy'all, howdy, reckon, fixin to, pardner
highfalutinunpretentious
Lacking false superiority
down-to-earth · humble · modest · unassuming · unaffected
highfalutinplainspoken
Candid in speech
plain-spoken · simple · plain · down-home · straightforward