pontificates
Lectures with authority
Pontificates means to speak in a pompous, dogmatic way, as if one's opinions were beyond question.
The word evokes someone holding forth at length on topics they consider themselves expert in: He pontificated about wine while the sommelier stood by silently.
The tone suggests the speaker is more impressed with their pronouncements than the audience is.
From the same root as pontiff—the Pope delivers authoritative pronouncements; everyone else just sounds self-important trying.
Pretentiously elevated in speech
- bombasticExcessively inflated language
- bloviatingLong-winded empty speech
- windbagOne who prattles endlessly
- self-importantExaggerating one's own significance
pretentious · grandiose · lofty · highfalutin · turgid · verbose · ostentatious · affected
Lecturing on morals
- moralizingDelivering ethical lectures
- lecturingGiving an instructive talk
- preachingDelivering moral discourse
- exhortingStrongly encouraging action
admonishing · haranguing · declaiming · opining · expounding · pronouncing · holding forth · soapboxing
Firmly attached to beliefs
- doctrinaireRigidly attached to doctrine
- authoritativeHaving recognized expertise
- categoricalUnconditional and explicit
- declarativeStating rather than asking
assertive · dictatorial · imperious · ex cathedra · infallible · unquestionable · absolute · decreeing
Treating someone as inferior
- superciliousArrogantly contemptuous of others
- haughtyDisdainfully proud
- snobbishCondescending toward perceived inferiors
- arrogantExcessively high self-regard
smug · disdainful · imperious · lording · talking down · superior · dismissive · conceited
grandiloquent
Pretentiously elevated in speech
- bombasticExcessively inflated language
- bloviatingLong-winded empty speech
- windbagOne who prattles endlessly
self-important · pretentious · grandiose · lofty · highfalutin · turgid · verbose · ostentatious · affected · theatrical
sermonizing
Lecturing on morals
- moralizingDelivering ethical lectures
- lecturingGiving an instructive talk
- preachingDelivering moral discourse
exhorting · admonishing · haranguing · declaiming · opining · expounding · pronouncing · holding forth · soapboxing · grandstanding
opinionated
Firmly attached to beliefs
- doctrinaireRigidly attached to doctrine
- authoritativeHaving recognized expertise
- categoricalUnconditional and explicit
declarative · assertive · dictatorial · imperious · ex cathedra · infallible · unquestionable · absolute · decreeing · pronouncing
patronizing
Treating someone as inferior
- superciliousArrogantly contemptuous of others
- haughtyDisdainfully proud
- snobbishCondescending toward perceived inferiors
arrogant · smug · disdainful · imperious · lording · talking down · superior · dismissive · conceited · sneering
pontificateslistens
Perceives sound attentively
defers · yields · concedes · acquiesces · inquires
pontificatesdoubts
Feelings of uncertainty
questions · wonders · hedges · equivocates · deliberates
pontificate, pontificator, pontificating, pontificated, pontificators, pontification, pontifications