pretentious
Showy without substance
The key to all the related meanings of pretentious is the underlying verb pretend.
A pretentious person is pretending to be someone other than they are—usually someone more cultured, intelligent, or dignified.
Pretentious language is intended to convey importance or some other quality it does not really possess.
Pretentious is always used for negative characterizations because it is in many ways the opposite of honest and straightforward.
Exaggerating one's own significance
- conceitedExcessively proud of oneself
- smugExcessively self-satisfied
- vaingloriousBoastfully proud, ostentatiously so
- haughtyDisdainfully proud
pompous · puffed-up · egotistic · hubristic · overweening · swaggering · imperious · overbearing
Fraudulent person or thing
- poseurPerson feigning refined tastes
- posturingInsincere behavior for effect
- artificialMade, not natural
- contrivedDeliberately manufactured, unnatural
feigned · simulated · unnatural · stilted · mincing · airs · assumed · theatrical
Excessively inflated language
- grandiloquentPretentiously elevated in speech
- highfalutinAffectedly superior or fancy
- overblownInflated beyond reasonable proportion
- inflatedExpanded with gas
magniloquent · bloated · overwrought · flowery · purple · turgid · flatulent · windy
One favoring the privileged
- superciliousArrogantly contemptuous of others
- condescendingSuperior and dismissive manner
- patronizingTreating someone as inferior
- snootyAffectedly superior in manner
hoity-toity · stuck-up · uppity · nose-in-the-air · aloof · superior · exclusionary · cliquish
self-important
Exaggerating one's own significance
- conceitedExcessively proud of oneself
- smugExcessively self-satisfied
- vaingloriousBoastfully proud, ostentatiously so
haughty · pompous · puffed-up · egotistic · hubristic · overweening · swaggering · imperious · overbearing · disdainful
phony
Fraudulent person or thing
- poseurPerson feigning refined tastes
- posturingInsincere behavior for effect
- artificialMade, not natural
contrived · feigned · simulated · unnatural · stilted · mincing · airs · assumed · theatrical · overdone
bombastic
Excessively inflated language
- grandiloquentPretentiously elevated in speech
- highfalutinAffectedly superior or fancy
- overblownInflated beyond reasonable proportion
inflated · magniloquent · bloated · overwrought · flowery · purple · turgid · flatulent · windy · verbose
elitist
One favoring the privileged
- superciliousArrogantly contemptuous of others
- condescendingSuperior and dismissive manner
- patronizingTreating someone as inferior
snooty · hoity-toity · stuck-up · uppity · nose-in-the-air · aloof · superior · exclusionary · cliquish · clubby
showy
Excessively eye-catching
- flashyShowy, often tastelessly so
- flamboyantStrikingly bold in style
- gaudyTastelessly ornate
garish · glitzy · splashy · loud · extravagant · ornate · overdone · kitsch · tawdry · vulgar
- arrogancearrogant, conceited, pompous, vain, haughty
- Overblown Wordspompous, bombastic, grandiose, inflated, overblown
- pretentiousnesspompous, pomposity, affectation, poseur, snobbery
- theatricaltheatrical, dramatic, melodramatic, histrionic, hammy
- posersposer, poseur, wannabe, fake, faker
- flashyshowy, flamboyant, glitzy, gaudy, garish
pretentioushumble
Unassuming about oneself
modest · unpretentious · unassuming · meek · self-effacing
pretentiousgenuine
Truly what it claims
authentic · unaffected · sincere · honest · natural
pretentiousunpretentious
Lacking false superiority
simple · plain · understated · homely · unadorned
unpretentious, pretentiousness, pretentiously, unpretentiously, unpretentiousness