pomposity
nounEtymology From Middle English pomposite (“solemnity”), from Latin pompōsitās. By surface analysis, pomp + -osity.
1
The quality of being pompous; self-importance.
- With their super-formal tone and heavy use of jargon, legal documents are renowned for their pomposity.
- In death Sir Felix changed from a smug-scented pomposity with a Stalinist grip on Arts Council money into, oh, Britain’s best-loved arts guru since the last one.2004, David Mitchell, “The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish”, in Cloud Atlas, London: Sceptre (Hodder and Stoughton), →ISBN, page 151:
- Synonyms
- bombast, ostentatiousness, pompousness
- Related terms
- pompous