bluster

verb blus·ter \ ˈblə-stər \

|Updated on: 16 Jun 2018

Examples: bluster in a Sentence

Definition of bluster

blustered; blustering play \ˈblə-st(ə-)riŋ\

intransitive verb

1 : to talk or act with noisy swaggering threats

brags and blusters but rarely does what he says he'll do

2 a : to blow in stormy noisy gusts

a cold, blustering wind

b : to be windy and boisterous

… when autumn blusters and the orchard rocks.
—Robert Browning

transitive verb

1 : to utter with noisy self-assertiveness

"I don't want to hear it!" he blustered.

2 : to drive or force by blustering

… trying to bluster us into the belief that they are much better than they look.
—F. A. Swinnerton

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blusterer

play \-tər-ər\ noun

See bluster defined for English-language learners

See bluster defined for kids

Examples of bluster in a Sentence

He brags and blusters, but he never really does what he says he'll do.
“I don't want to hear it!” he blustered.
The wind blustered through the valley.

Recent Examples of bluster from the Web

And with that, Mai blustered through the mob with security on her tail.

— bianca alysse, Billboard, "Ella Mai Wins New York City Over With Her Enchanting Concert at S.O.B.'s," 16 May 2018
During the same period, my stepmother got breast cancer, my mother-in-law had brain surgery, and Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un blustered on about nuclear war.

— jake halpern, WSJ, "Drip, Drip: Why We Sweat the Small Stuff," 17 Apr. 2018
During the kids' first week back in school, a late-summer wind blustered up.

— logan ward, Popular Mechanics, "How to Build a Treehouse in the Backyard," 20 Mar. 2017
In another post, Mira Rapp-Hooper looked at five takeaways from Trump’s blustering rhetoric on North Korea.

— elizabeth n. saunders, Washington Post, "Five things Trump did on his summer vacation: A foreign policy roundup," 4 Sep. 2017
While candidate Trump blustered about scrapping the nuclear deal altogether, his administration has been compelled to shy away from such drastic unilateral action.

— ishaan tharoor, Washington Post, "The U.S. and Iran are heading toward crisis," 19 July 2017
As Dexter Filkins recently wrote, in , some officials fear that Trump will bluster about terrorism in public but privately delegate strategy to the military.

— david rohde, The New Yorker, "What Donald Trump Can Do to Help Stop Terrorism: Talk Less," 4 June 2017
But this long work gets bogged down with heavy-handed comedic episodes that last too long, mostly involving the crude, blustering Baron Ochs, a cousin of the Marschallin.

— anthony tommasini, New York Times, "Review: Renée Fleming’s Poignant Farewell to ‘Der Rosenkavalier’," 14 Apr. 2017
But at the end of the day, what Trump blusters about doesn't matter, at least this time—what matters is the Senate's actions that could hurt millions of Americans.

— megan friedman, Esquire, "Seth Meyers Breaks Down the 'Cartoonishly Evil' Trumpcare Bill," 27 June 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'bluster.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of bluster

Middle English blustren, probably from Middle Low German blüsteren

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 15th century

in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1

See Words from the same year

bluster Synonyms

bluster

noun

Definition of bluster

1 : a violent boisterous blowing

… the strong breeze driving them was setting up a bluster on the water.
—Rose Thurburn

2 : violent commotion

They do their work without bluster or ostentation.
—Stanley Walker

3 : loudly boastful or threatening speech

growing tired of his macho bluster

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blusterous

play \-t(ə-)rəs\ adjective

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blustery

play \-t(ə-)rē\ adjective

See bluster defined for English-language learners

Examples of bluster in a Sentence

We were all tired of his macho bluster.
all the bluster in the campaign speech was intended to hide a lack of specifics

Recent Examples of bluster from the Web

This is a league built on simmering feuds, animosities, jealousies, hyper-sensitivity, theatrical swagger and bluster, chest-pounding and self-promotion.

— connor letourneau, San Francisco Chronicle, "A dynasty secured," 13 June 2018
Vice was now worth more than $4 billion, theoretically, and while no one in Williamsburg knew exactly how the company was going to build a daily news show, let alone an entire channel, Vice had managed to back up its own bluster before.

— reeves wiedeman, Daily Intelligencer, "A Company Built on a Bluff," 10 June 2018
The best way to do this isn’t loud bluster, but rather through more concrete steps to coordinate with allies.

— zack beauchamp, Vox, "The real reason Trump’s North Korea summit failed," 24 May 2018
But Trump could just as easily go back to his saber-rattling bluster of the previous year, while Kim resumes missile launches — returning the focus once more to the grim prospect of war.

— ishaan tharoor, Washington Post, "Trump’s canceled North Korea summit sums up his chaotic foreign policy," 25 May 2018
As his out-of-work dad, Jim Belushi amps down his typical bluster, even underplaying at times.

— chris kaltenbach, baltimoresun.com, "'Sollers Point' offers understanding without resolution, and that's fine," 10 May 2018
Flood and other newcomers on Trump's legal roster could provide a counterpoint to Giuliani's New York bluster.

— katelyn polantz, CNN, "Giuliani media blitz, legal team's reshuffle hint at new Trump strategy," 5 May 2018
Many experts agree that the summit is at least a sign of progress, one that is hard to imagine without Trump’s bluster.

— benjamin hart, Daily Intelligencer, "North Korea Summit to Hinge on Whether Trump Likes Cut of Kim’s Jib," 13 May 2018
For all Baumann and Grant’s bluster about innovation and feeding the world, many farmers worry that this merger is motivated by profit alone—which will be much easier to make after the tie-up.

— hallie detrick, Fortune, "The Justice Department Is Going to Let Bayer Buy Monsanto. Here's Why It Matters," 10 Apr. 2018