adj · 3 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
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Received-Pronunciation:/ˈpɒmpəs/
Southern-England:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
General-American:/ˈpɑmpəs/
CMU ARPABET:P AA1 M P AH0 S
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
adj
Meaning 1
Affectedly grand, solemn or self-important.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
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.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
adjective
Meaning 2
characterized by pomp and ceremony and stately display
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: ceremonious
Antonyms: none provided
3
adjective satellite
Meaning 3
puffed up with vanity- Newsweek
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
a grandiloquent and boastful manner
overblown oratory
a pompous speech
pseudo-scientific gobbledygook and pontifical hooey
From Middle English pompous, from Old French pompeux, pompos, from Late Latin pomposus, from Latin pompa (“pomp”), from Ancient Greek πομπή (pompḗ, “a sending, a solemn procession, pomp”), from πέμπω (pémpō, “to send”), equivalent to pomp + -ous. Doublet of pomposo.
Across languages
Translations
42 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Bulgarian:
надут
(nadut)
— affectedly grand
Bulgarian:
важен
(važen)
— affectedly grand
Catalan:
pompós
— affectedly grand
Czech:
pompézní
— affectedly grand
Danish:
pompøs
— affectedly grand
Danish:
højrøvet
— affectedly grand
Dutch:
pompeus
— affectedly grand
Esperanto:
pompa
— affectedly grand
Finnish:
mahtipontinen
— affectedly grand
Finnish:
suurellinen
— affectedly grand
French:
pompeux
— affectedly grand
French:
emphatique
— affectedly grand
Galician:
pomposo
— affectedly grand
Georgian:
პომპეზური
(ṗomṗezuri)
— affectedly grand
German:
pompös
— affectedly grand
German:
schwülstig
— affectedly grand
Ancient Greek:
σοβαρός
(sobarós)
— affectedly grand
Hungarian:
fellengzős
— affectedly grand
Irish:
mórchúiseach
— affectedly grand
Italian:
pomposo
— affectedly grand
Lithuanian:
pompastiškas
— affectedly grand
Lithuanian:
pasipūtęs
— affectedly grand
Macedonian:
високо́парен
(visokóparen)
— affectedly grand
Macedonian:
на́дуен
(náduen)
— affectedly grand
Macedonian:
по́мпезен
(pómpezen)
— affectedly grand
Māori:
whakakake
— affectedly grand
Māori:
whakaī
— affectedly grand
Norwegian Bokmål:
pompøs
— affectedly grand
Norwegian Bokmål:
høyttravende
— affectedly grand
Norwegian Nynorsk:
pompøs
— affectedly grand
Norwegian Nynorsk:
høgttråvande
— affectedly grand
Persian:
پرشکوه
(poršokuh)
— affectedly grand
Portuguese:
pomposo
— affectedly grand
Romanian:
pompos
— affectedly grand
Russian:
помпе́зный
(pompéznyj)
— affectedly grand
Russian:
напы́щенный
(napýščennyj)
— affectedly grand
