Words / C2

BOMB-ast/ˈbɒmbæst/

Bombast is pompous, inflated language with little real meaning: empty bombast, a speech of bombast. Bombastic (already in the dictionary) is the adjective; turgid (already in the dictionary) is pompously swollen prose, and bluster (already in the dictionary) is loud empty swagger of talk. A ranking chorus is not a methods line. Write the n; leave the organ swell.

Meaning

Pompous, inflated language with little real meaning.

Examples

• “Bombast about “world-leading” is not a sample-size sentence.”
• “Bombastic is the adjective (already in C2). Turgid is pompously overwritten (already in C2). Bluster is loud empty swagger (already in C2). A short true sentence can still be presentable. A swell of adjectives that never states the n is branding. Write the number; then the rhetoric.”

Good to know

Pompous empty language. Adjective: bombastic (already in C2). Close: turgid / bluster (already in C2). This batch: braggart / braggadocio. Rhetoric ≠ an n.

Near in meaning

rant, rhetoric, hot air, fustian

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