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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



27 words match “PRETENTIOUS”

PRETENTIOUS a.
Full of pretension; disposed to lay claim to more than is one's; presuming; assuming. -- Pre*ten"tious*ly, adv. -- Pre*ten"tious*ness, n.
AMBITIOUSNESS n.
The quality of being ambitious; ambition; pretentiousness.
ASSUME v.
To be arrogant or pretentious; to claim more than is due. Bp. Burnet.
ASSUMING a.
Pretentious; taking much upon one's self; presumptuous. Burke.
BRAG a.
Brisk; full of spirits; boasting; pretentious; conceited. [Arhaic] A brag young fellow. B. Jonson.
CANT v.
To use pretentious language, barbarous jargon, or technical termes; to talk with an affectation of learning. The doctor here, When he discqurseth of dissection, Of vena cava and of vena porta, The meseræum and the mesentericum, What does he else but cant. B. Jonson That uncouth affected garb of speech, or canting hangu…
CHARLATANIC; CHARLATANICAL a.
Of or like a charlatan; making undue pretension; empirical; pretentious; quackish. -- Char`la*tan"ic*al*ly, adv.
DECLAMATION n.
Pretentious rhetorical display, with more sound than sense; as, mere declamation.
DECLAMATORY a.
Characterized by rhetorical display; pretentiously rhetorical; without solid sense or argument; bombastic; noisy; as, a declamatory way or style.
FIASCO n.
A complete or ridiculous failure, esp. of a musical performance, or of any pretentious undertaking.
FLASH a. 2 definitions
Showy, but counterfeit; cheap, pretentious, and vulgar; as, flash jewelry; flash finery.
FLATULENT a.
Pretentious without substance or reality; puffy; empty; vain; as, a flatulent vanity. He is too flatulent sometimes, and sometimes too dry. Dryden.
GEWGAW a.
Showy; unreal; pretentious. Seeing his gewgaw castle shine. Tennyson.
HUMBLE a.
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.
LEXIPHANIC a.
Using, or interlarded with, pretentious words; bombastic; as, a lexiphanic writer or speaker; lexiphanic writing.
LEXIPHANICISM n.
The use of pretentious words, language, or style.
MASQUERADE n. 2 definitions
ting 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.
OSTENTATION n.
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.
OSTENTATIOUS a.
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.
POMPOUS a.
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.
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