WORD OF THE DAY: BOMBAST
What It Means
Bombast is a formal word that refers to speech or writing that is meant to sound important or impressive but that is not sincere or meaningful.
// You need less bombast and more substance in this speech.
Bombast in Context
“This is bombast that has not been thought through from a policy perspective. I know that many in the space community find this to be exciting and want to believe the hype behind such an announcement. Mars is exciting. However … I think we have to ask ourselves whether getting to Mars is worth the moral costs in addition to the economic costs and potential risks to human lives.” — P. J. Blount, quoted in Newsweek, 28 Jan. 2025
Did You Know?
Bombast settled softly into English in the mid-late 16th century as a textile term used to refer to cotton or other soft fibrous material used as padding or stuffing (its ultimate source is likely the Middle Persian noun pambak, meaning “cotton”), but within a decade it had extended from literal stuffing to figurative stuffing, referring to speech or writing that is padded with pretentious verbiage. The adjective bombastic, which followed bombast a century later, has been a favorite choice to describe blowhards, boasters, and cockalorums ever since.
