noun ·4 syllables ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun

1. 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."

2. 2
   lack of elegance as a consequence of being pompous and puffed up with vanity wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

ostentationostentatiousnesspompousnesspompousnessaffectationarrogance

Example

More examples

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

Etymology

From Middle English pomposite (“solemnity”), from Latin pompōsitās.

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