pompous

From Middle English pompous, 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”), equivalent to pomp +‎ -ous. Doublet of pomposo.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɒmpəs/

• Audio (Southern England)

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• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɑmpəs/

pompous (comparative more pompous, superlative most pompous)

1. Affectedly grand, solemn or self-important.
   • 1658, Sir Thomas Browne, Hydriotaphia, Urn Burial:

     But man is a Noble Animal, splendid in ashes, and pompous in the grave, solemnizing Nativities and Deaths with equal lustre, nor omitting Ceremonies of bravery, in the infamy of his nature.

   • 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:
     , 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.

• conceited
• smug
• See also Thesaurus:arrogant

• humble
• modest
• self-effacing

• pomp
• pomposity
• pompously
• pompousness

• “pompous”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “pompous”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “pompous”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.