pontification
Holding forth grandly
Pontification is speaking in a pompous, dogmatic way—holding forth as though your opinions were unquestionable truths.
The word derives from pontiff, suggesting someone who speaks with the authority of a pope: We endured his pontification about the proper way to grill a steak.
To pontificate is to deliver such pronouncements.
Giving an instructive talk
- condescensionDemeaning air of superiority
- blowhardBoastful empty talker
- preachingDelivering moral discourse
- moralizingDelivering ethical lectures
self-importance · opinionated · bloviating · grandstanding · pomposity · sermonizing · holier-than-thou · windbag
of the pontiff
- VaticanPapal city-state
- bishopDiocesan clergy head
- encyclicalFormal papal circular letter
- ex cathedraWith binding doctrinal authority
ecclesiastical · doctrine · homily · sermon · pulpit · pronouncement · apostolic · decree
Power to enforce obedience
- pronouncementFormal authoritative statement
- declarationFormal public announcement
- proclamationFormal public announcement
- assertionConfident statement of fact
dictum · expounding · holding forth · declaiming · dissertation · discourse · treatise · oration
lecturing
Giving an instructive talk
- condescensionDemeaning air of superiority
- blowhardBoastful empty talker
- preachingDelivering moral discourse
moralizing · self-importance · opinionated · bloviating · grandstanding · pomposity · sermonizing · holier-than-thou · windbag · mansplaining
papal
of the pontiff
- VaticanPapal city-state
- bishopDiocesan clergy head
- encyclicalFormal papal circular letter
ex cathedra · ecclesiastical · doctrine · homily · sermon · pulpit · pronouncement · apostolic · decree · infallibility
authority
Power to enforce obedience
- pronouncementFormal authoritative statement
- declarationFormal public announcement
- proclamationFormal public announcement
assertion · dictum · expounding · holding forth · declaiming · dissertation · discourse · treatise · oration · commentary
- blatherbabble, balderdash, baloney, blarney, blather
- bombastbombast, grandiloquence, magniloquence, pomposity, fustian
- dominance tacticsbullying, commanding, controlling, dictating, domineering
- talkativenesstalkativeness, verbosity, wordiness, garrulity, loquacity
- preachingsermonizing, homiletics, altar call, scripture reading, closing prayer
pontificationlistening
Attending to sound
active listening · dialogue · questioning · give-and-take · conversation
pontificationopen-mindedness
Acceptance of differing viewpoints
questioning · agnosticism · uncertainty · doubt · intellectual humility
pontificationbrevity
Shortness of expression
conciseness · terseness · silence · reticence · taciturnity