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Grandiloquent

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(pronounced gran-dil-uh-kwunt)  adjective

Definition

lofty, pompous, bombastic, or excessively elaborate and colorful in language, tone, style, or manner (especially so as to attract attention); showy and inflated in speech or expression.

Other Forms

Grandiloquence  (pronounced gran-dil-uh-kwuns)  noun

Main Example

• In one of his recent--and as usual, pithy--commentaries on "60 Minutes," Andy Rooney takes on some of the modern art displays in public places that seem to make no sense to most people. One of the more grandiloquent such sculptures on which Rooney trains his crosshairs is "Two Indeterminate Lines" (two long and thick metal strips bent into the shape of a large, unkempt coil, by French minimalist Bernar Venet), indignantly calling it "pretentious nonsense."

Workplace Examples

• When it comes to engaging would-be clients, some companies just don't seem to get it. For example, at a trade show last week, one company--an industry titan, mind you--was drawing ridicule because of its grandiloquent presence: a huge booth, full of serious, stiffly dressed employees standing in front of large displays about the firm's 80-year history. Not surprisingly, there were far more people at booths of much smaller companies with displays about exciting new products, and where the staff was friendly and hip looking.
• One of the most powerful arguments for believing in God was that made by the late William F. Buckley Jr. in one of NPR's "This I Believe" segments some 3 years ago. Of course, I don't approve of the grandiloquence of that piece. Even though it was meant for a radio listening audience, the 2-minute utterance was packed with big, incomprehensible words and phrases such as "profundity," "opiate," "felicitous congeries," "jingoistic patrons," "animadversion," and the like.

Other Examples

• this author saying during a debate: "I realize this may sound a bit grandiloquent, but one tough question we should be asking ourselves is: Does man have the moral right to obliterate the habitat of other mammals in the pursuit of economic gain?"
• a colleague saying to you softly: "Oh, there's Sid--grandiloquently dressed as always, in a three-piece suit, gold cufflinks, and what have you, when no one else here is wearing so much as a tie. He looks such a misfit in that pompous attire."
• a company grandiloquently naming itself "The Copy Center of North America"
• the audience becoming resentful of a grandiloquent speech full of Latin and Greek quotations and obscure, polysyllabic English words; the high-flown oratory and grandiloquent statements that are sometimes uttered by prime ministers and heads of state in their inaugurals, which are obviously meant for effect and for entering the history books
• each time North Korea is in the news, American TV networks showing brief video clips of the grandiloquent parades in Pyongyang, with the amazing displays of synchronized movement by over 100,000 people at a time

© 2008 V.J. Singal

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