high-flown

high–flown

adjective

Definition of HIGH-FLOWN

1

full of fine words and fancy expressions <gave a high-flown reply instead of a simple “yes” or “no” answer>

Synonyms aureate, florid, grandiloquent, highfalutin (also hifalutin), high-flown, high-sounding, magnific, ornate, purple, rhetorical (also rhetoric)

Related Words affected, bloated, fancy-pants, grandiose, inflated, pompous, pretentious, stilted; excessive, flattering, fulsome; boastful, bombastic; elevated, eloquent, lofty; bookish, inkhorn, learned

Near Antonyms prosaic, unpoetic; bald, direct, lean, matter-of-fact, plain, plainspoken, simple, spare, stark, straightforward, unadorned; natural, unaffected, unpretentious

2

very dignified in form, tone, or style <high-flown speeches about the nobleness of their cause>

Synonyms eloquent, formal, high-flown, lofty, majestic, stately, towering

Related Words affected, bombastic, declamatory, florid, flowery, grandiloquent, grandiose, highfalutin (also hifalutin), oratorical, pompous, pretentious, rhetorical (also rhetoric), stilted; Attic, cultured, refined; classy, courtly, fine, graceful, tasteful; aristocratic, genteel, patrician; correct, educated, grammatical, proper; academic (also academical), bookish, learned, literary

Near Antonyms casual, colloquial, conversational, informal, nonformal, slangy, unbookish, unliterary, vernacular; coarse, common, crass, crude, gross, ill-bred, indecent, lowbred, lowbrow, rough, rough-hewn, rude, tasteless, uncouth, uncultivated, uncultured, unpolished, unrefined, vulgar; incorrect, substandard, uneducated, ungrammatical, unlearned

Antonyms ineloquent, low, undignified