How to Use pompous in a Sentence

pompous

adjective
Definition of pompousnext
Synonyms for pompousnext
  • She found it difficult to talk about her achievements without sounding pompous.
  • The book is gassy and pompous and just fraudulent and dumb as hell.
    — Geek's Guide To The Galaxy, WIRED, 15 July 2022
  • The dwarves anchor it and temper some of the show’s more pompous instincts.
    — Sydney Odman, The Hollywood Reporter, 31 Aug. 2022
  • The hero, a pompous TV weatherman, is compelled to live the same day over and over.
    — Anne Fadiman, Wired, 17 June 2020
  • That’s why the big live oak at the cemetery is such a refuge, with nothing but a few pompous stones to block the breeze.
    — Bill Finch, al, 20 July 2023
  • Genet’s face stared out from the cover, once old and pompous, now young and troubled.
    — Saïd Sayrafiezadeh, The New Yorker, 2 May 2022
  • To some, Kim’s tone had come off as pompous and dismissive.
    — Jasmine Sanders, The Cut, 29 May 2018
  • Some people could view it, for lack of a better word, douchey or pompous.
    — Emma Fraser and Sophie Brookover, Town & Country, 21 Dec. 2022
  • Here's how to talk about wine without sounding like a pompous jerk.
    — Sam Dangremond, Town & Country, 7 Dec. 2016
  • A lot of teasing is aimed at pompous food snobs these days, but not nearly enough.
    — Wsj Arts, WSJ, 19 Jan. 2023
  • But what makes Babbitt a Babbitt is his pompous hypocrisy.
    — Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 5 Dec. 2023
  • Leary, a rich businessman, tagged along, and, as was his wont, mocked the pompous bishops who swanned around the place like kings.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 19 Aug. 2021
  • King Lear is the basic structure, if that doesn’t sound too pompous, but with magic wands.
    — Laura Hudson, The Verge, 30 May 2018
  • To act as if this is a shocking revelation is, to put it mildly, the height of pompous rhetoric.
    — WSJ, 17 Apr. 2018
  • One boy, a pompous rich kid planning to spend his holidays in St. Kitts, manages to score a B+.
    — Peter Debruge, Variety, 31 Aug. 2023
  • The Big Ten is just a pompous fraud, and the league somehow managed to get hustled by a gangster while still looking like the bad guy.
    — Joseph Goodman | [email protected], al, 17 Sep. 2020
  • Hemsworth begins the film as an overbearing, pompous Thor.
    — Sam MacHkovech, Ars Technica, 7 July 2022
  • That’s the reason McKay goes for a pompous, all-star spectacle.
    — Armond White, National Review, 12 Jan. 2022
  • Jordan will clearly take a Chad-like role as pompous villain.
    — Rebecca Farley, refinery29.com, 29 May 2018
  • The hawker is always full of pompous boasts — lies — and the freak show behind him is sad and disappointing.
    — Anchorage Daily News, 28 Jan. 2018
  • Unbeknownst to her, pompous gods of island make bet over which is stronger, love or death - stakes being girl's life.
    — Rasputin Todd, Cincinnati.com, 18 June 2018
  • Plemons is a hoot as a pompous villain who isn’t averse to breaking into song with his crew of henchmen.
    — Stephen Humphries, The Christian Science Monitor, 29 July 2021
  • That pompous putz at a party reminds us how great our true friends really are.
    — Andy Kessler, WSJ, 19 Dec. 2021
  • No know-it-all talking heads or pompous newspaper guys.
    — Paul Jenkins, Alaska Dispatch News, 5 Aug. 2017
  • For example, a pompous man in a suit slipping on a banana peel and falling into a pool.
    — Carina Woudenberg, Discover Magazine, 11 July 2021
  • And if your boyfriend isn’t too pompous and self-absorbed to find ways to communicate with your parents, then things will turn out OK.
    — Carolyn Hax, Detroit Free Press, 23 Oct. 2019
  • Vlad Ivanov, who played the pompous provincial police captain in that film, returns in this one playing the same guy, Cristi Anghelache.
    — New York Times, 26 Feb. 2020
  • The picture of chilling villainy, Reehl is pompous and power-hungry.
    — Amanda Rooker, Orange County Register, 3 May 2017
  • The former excels at playing the earthy, sly, seductive trickster, the latter, the pompous, self-important rich boy.
    — Katie Walsh, Los Angeles Times, 31 July 2024
  • Fey didn’t write this uneven comedy, but it’s got some of the same sophisticated satire of big-city elites that 30 Rock exudes, and Martin has a ball playing a pompous numbskull who doesn’t know that ponytails have been over for more than a decade.
    — Will Leitch, Vulture, 29 Mar. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'pompous.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: