Search the Dictionary

Pretentious rhetorical display, with more sound than sense; as, mere declamation.

Characterized by rhetorical display; pretentiously rhetorical; without solid sense or argument; bombastic; noisy; as, a declamatory way or style.

Tenacious; retentive. [Obs.] Roses, damask and red, are fast flowers of their smells. Bacon.

A complete or ridiculous failure, esp. of a musical performance, or of any pretentious undertaking.

Showy, but counterfeit; cheap, pretentious, and vulgar; as, flash jewelry; flash finery.

Pretentious without substance or reality; puffy; empty; vain; as, a flatulent vanity. He is too flatulent sometimes, and sometimes too dry. Dryden.

ient; peevish; as, a froward child. A froward man soweth strife. Prov. xvi. 28. A froward retention of custom is as turbulent a thing as innovation. Bacon.

Showy; unreal; pretentious. Seeing his gewgaw castle shine. Tennyson.

Near the ground; not high or lofty; not pretentious or magnificent; unpretending; unassuming; as, a humble cottage. THy humble nest built on the ground. Cowley.

. & Med.), the lower portion of the bowel, terminating at the anus. It is adapted for the retention of fecal matter, being shorter, broader, and less convoluted than the small intestine; it consists of three parts, the cæcum, colon, and rectum. -- Small intestine (Human Anat. & Med.), the upper portion of the bowel, i…

A retention or suppression of urine.

Using, or interlarded with, pretentious words; bombastic; as, a lexiphanic writer or speaker; lexiphanic writing.

The use of pretentious words, language, or style.

ing or living under false pretenses; concealment of something by a false or unreal show; pretentious show; disguise. That masquerade of misrepresentation which invariably accompanied the political eloquence of Rome. De Quincey.

The actual and distinct retention and recognition of past ideas in the mind; remembrance; as, in memory of youth; memories of foreign lands.

The act of ostentating or of making an ambitious display; unnecessary show; pretentious parade; -- usually in a detractive sense. "Much ostentation vain of fleshly arm." Milton. He knew that good and bountiful minds were sometimes inclined to ostentation. Atterbury.

Fond of, or evincing, ostentation; unduly conspicuous; pretentious; boastful. Far from being ostentatious of the good you do. Dryden. The ostentatious professions of many years. Macaulay. -- Os`ten*ta"tious*ly, adv. -- Os`ten*ta"tious*ness, n.

The retention by the President of the United States of a bill unsigned so that it does not become a law, in virtue of the following constitutional provision (Const. Art. I., sec. 7, cl. 2): "If any bill shall not be returned by the President within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him,…

Ostentatious; pretentious; boastful; vainlorious; as, pompous manners; a pompous style. "Pompous in high presumption." Chaucer. he pompous vanity of the old schoolmistress. Thackeray. -- Pom"ous*ly, adv. -- Pomp"ous*ness, n.

The act or process of retenting; the state of having relented. Sir T. Browne.