pompous

Etymology

From Middle English, from Old French pompeux, from Late Latin pomposus, from Latin pompa (“pomp”), from Ancient Greek πομπή (pompḗ, “a sending, a solemn procession, pomp”), from πέμπω (pémpō, “I send”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɒmpəs/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɑmpəs/

Adjective

pompous (comparative more pompous, superlative most pompous)

1. Affectedly grand, solemn or self-important.
   • 1848, Thackeray, William Makepeace, Vanity Fair, Bantam Classics (1997), 16:

     "Not that the parting speech caused Amelia to philosophise, or that it armed her in any way with a calmness, the result of argument; but it was intolerably dull, pompous, and tedious; and having the fear of her schoolmistress greatly before her eyes, Miss Samuel did not venture, in her presence, to give way to any ebullitions of private grief."

Further reading

• pompous in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• pompous in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• pompous at OneLook Dictionary Search