Grandiloquence

WORD OF THE DAY

 

GRANDILOQUENCE \ gran-DIH-luh-kwunss \ noun

 

Definition

: a lofty, extravagantly colorful, pompous, or bombastic style, manner, or quality especially in language

 

Examples

The grandiloquence of the columnist's writing gave him a reputation as a blowhard, but his opinions were deep and carefully considered.

"It seems that the only thing that flows more freely than money in Washington is the grandiloquence of the partisans in each party."
— Daily News-Record (Harrisonburg, Virginia), September 29, 2014

 

Did You Know?

Grandiloquence, which first appeared in English in the late 16th century, is one of several English words pertaining to speech that derive from the Latin loqui, meaning "to speak." Other offspring of loqui include eloquent ("marked by fluent expression"), loquacious ("full of excessive talk"), and soliloquy ("a long dramatic monologue").

 

Grandiloquence comes (probably via Middle French) from the Latin adjective grandiloquus, which combines loqui and the adjective grandis ("grand or great"). A word that is very similar in meaning to grandiloquence is magniloquence—and the similarity is not surprising. Magniloquence combines loqui with magnus, another Latin word meaning "great."