bluster

verb

blus·ter | \ ˈblə-stər

blustered; blustering\ˈblə-st(ə-)riŋ

Definition of bluster

(Entry 1 of 2)

intransitive verb

1 : to talk or act with noisy swaggering threats brags and blusters but rarely does what he says he'll do

2a : 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

bluster

noun

Definition of bluster (Entry 2 of 2)

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

Other Words from bluster Synonyms & Antonyms More Example Sentences Learn More about bluster

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Other words from bluster

Verb

blusterer \ˈblə-stər-ər

\ noun

Noun

blusterous \ˈblə-st(ə-)rəs

\ adjective

blustery \ˈblə-st(ə-)rē

\ adjective

Examples of bluster in a Sentence

Verb

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.

Noun

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 on the Web: Verb

Abraham Lincoln even made an appearance, as did George Washington, each of them blustering about the foundations of this country. — Rebecca Farley, refinery29.com, "The Bachelorette Wants To Have Its Cake & Be Political, Too," 3 July 2018 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

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

The resulting North Korean bluster prompted Mr. Trump to cancel the summit meeting, briefly. — Gerald F. Seib, WSJ, "For Trump, the Challenges From China Multiply," 28 May 2018 The composition of Trump’s Cabinet suggests that his disdain for intellectuals was more than just campaign-trail bluster. — Alexander Nazaryan, Newsweek, "What Is College Good For? Absolutely Nothing, Say Republicans (and Some Democrats)," 1 Feb. 2018 People with an imminent sense of threat coming from Russia have upped the ante, but the key point to be made here, in regard to the president's bluster is this, these people aren't exactly in -- rare in terms of paying in to NATO. — Fox News, "President Trump puts NATO on notice," 12 July 2018 For others, despite the bluster, posturing and quixotic legislative activity by European partners to keep the deal alive, the JCPOA died on 8 May, when President Trump announced that the U.S. would withdraw from the arrangement. — Tom Keatinge, Time, "Another Death Knell for the Iran Nuclear Deal," 4 July 2018 That's knocked businesses on their heels and left them wondering whether the president's tariffs are legitimate policy or merely political bluster. — NBC News, "Trump's trade war is meant to protect American jobs — so why are businesses planning layoffs?," 25 June 2018 The superhero and the supervillain fight, scheme, and bluster, and one gains dominance while the other slinks away, thwarted again. — Rachel Syme, The New Republic, ""Billions" reckons with the inflated egos and muddled ethics of Wall Street.," 24 Apr. 2018 More: Donald Trump, Kim Jong Un summit was bluster and balloons More: Eliminate North Korea's threat? — John Bacon, USA TODAY, "Pompeo rejects North Korea claims, says sanctions remain until nukes are gone," 14 June 2018 Amid all of his bluster and threats, no one believes Mr. Trump’s zero-tariff proposal is serious. — The Editorial Board, WSJ, "Disruption Isn’t Enough," 10 June 2018

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.