Standard Lemma guide

pomposity

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: P AA2 M P AA1 S IH0 T IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The quality of being pompous; self-importance.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • With their super-formal tone and heavy use of jargon, legal documents are renowned for their pomposity.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

lack of elegance as a consequence of being pompous and puffed up with vanity

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: ostentation, ostentatiousness, pompousness, pretentiousness, puffiness, splashiness, inflation

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: inelegance

History

Etymology

From Middle English pomposite (“solemnity”), from Latin pompōsitās. By surface analysis, pomp + -osity.

Across languages

Translations

12 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: надутост (nadutost) — quality
  • Catalan: pompositat — quality
  • Finnish: pompöösiys — quality
  • Finnish: mahtipontisuus — quality
  • Finnish: suurellisuus — quality
  • French: pompe — quality
  • Galician: pomposidade — quality
  • Irish: mórchúis — quality
  • Portuguese: pomposidade — quality
  • Spanish: prosopopeya — quality
  • Spanish: pomposidad — quality
  • Swedish: pompösitet — quality