Lexiphanicism

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The use of pretentious words or language.

    "The student's lexiphanicism is an obvious attempt to appear smart but really only serves to make him look pompous."

Synonyms

All synonyms
affectationbig talkbombastconvolutionflatulencegaudiness

Example

More examples

"The student's lexiphanicism is an obvious attempt to appear smart but really only serves to make him look pompous."

Etymology

From Lucian's Lexiphanes, from lexiphanic + -ism.

More for "lexiphanicism"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.