From Middle English pompous, from Old French pompeux, from Late Latin pomposus, from Latin pompa, from Ancient Greek πομπή, from πέμπω ("I send"), equivalent to .

• (RP) IPA: /ˈpɒmpəs/
• (America) IPA: /ˈpɑmpəs/

pompous

1. Affectedly grand, solemn or self-important.
   • 1658, Sir Thomas Browne, Hydriotaphia, Urn Burial:

     But man is a Noble Animal, splendid in ashes, and pompous in the grave, solemnizing Nativities and Deaths with equal lustre, nor omitting Ceremonies of bravery, in the infamy of his nature.

   • 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC ↗:
     , Bantam Classics (1997), 16:

     Not that the parting speech caused Amelia to philosophise, or that it armed her in any way with a calmness, the result of argument; but it was intolerably dull, pompous, and tedious; and having the fear of her schoolmistress greatly before her eyes, Miss Samuel did not venture, in her presence, to give way to any ebullitions of private grief.

• conceited
• smug
• See also Thesaurus:arrogant

• humble
• modest
• self-effacing

• pomp
• pomposity
• pompously
• pompousness

• French: pompeux, emphatique
• German: pompös, schwülstig
• Italian: pomposo
• Portuguese: pomposo
• Russian: помпе́зный
• Spanish: majestuoso, pomposo, grandilocuente, altisonante, altísono, rimbombante, campanudo, hinchado