Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Characterized by excessive self-importance or dignity; behaving in a way that is overly serious and intended to impress others: Describing a person, their manner, or their speech as affectedly grand, solemn, or self-important.
   • Excessively elevated or ornate; marked by an ostentatiously grand style: Describing language, ceremony, or display that is overly elaborate and showy.

Usage and Examples

• Describing a person's manner or attitude:
  • The manager was so pompous that he never listened to his employees' ideas.
  • She dismissed the question with a pompous wave of her hand.
• Describing speech or writing:
  • The article was written in a pompous style that was difficult to understand.
  • He gave a long, pompous lecture about his minor achievements.

Advanced Usage and Nuances

• "Pompous" vs. "Arrogant": While both imply an inflated sense of self, "pompous" specifically emphasizes an exaggerated display of dignity, importance, or knowledge, often through manner or language. An arrogant person may simply feel superior; a pompous person acts out that feeling in a grandiose way.
• Often used pejoratively: The term is almost always critical, suggesting the display is unjustified, ridiculous, or offensive.
  • His pompous pronouncements on art made him unpopular at the gallery opening.

Variants and Related Words

• Pomp (n): Solemn and splendid display or ceremony.
  • The coronation was conducted with great pomp.
• Pomposity (n): The quality of being pompous; pompous behavior.
  • The sheer pomposity of his speech was astonishing.
• Pompously (adv): In a pompous manner.
  • He announced the news very pompously.

Synonyms

• Grandiose: Impressive or magnificent in appearance or style, especially pretentiously so.
• Bombastic: High-sounding but with little meaning; inflated.
• Pontifical: Characterized by a pompous air of infallibility (like a pontiff).
• Pretentious: Attempting to impress by affecting greater importance or merit than is actually possessed.

Idioms and Fixed Phrases

• Pompous ass (idiom, informal, derogatory): A person who behaves in a ridiculously self-important way.
  • Don't be such a pompous ass; nobody cares about your title here.

Adjective

1. characterized by pomp and ceremony and stately display
2. puffed up with vanity
   • a grandiloquent and boastful manner
   • overblown oratory
   • a pompous speech
   • pseudo-scientific gobbledygook and pontifical hooey- Newsweek