boastful

adjective

boast·​ful ˈbōst-fəl 

: given to or marked by boasting : expressing excessive self-pride

a vain, boastful man

A few of the … parents are downright boastful about their sons.

—Jane Gross

… journalists who are only too willing to take at face value the boastful pronouncements of the company's publicity department.

—Jeffrey Young

At the highest levels, the administration's response to the crisis has been sluggish, characterized by boastful rhetoric but stagnant funding.

—The Washington Post

boastfully

ˈbōst-fə-lē 

adverb

If her new acquaintance wants to talk about plants, she might mention a few of her own, never boastfully, but with a pleasant tone of surprise, as if her parlor palm and the other person's had coincidentally attended the same high school.

—David Sedaris

Of the confidence reposed in him by Hudig—the master—he was boastfully and obtrusively proud.

—Joseph Conrad

boastfulness noun

Villars' military and diplomatic career under two kings of France was enormously successful, but his boastfulness and cupidity were notorious.

—David Wykes

Examples of boastful in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Over time, some officers showed a boastful disdain for parts of the population they were expected to protect. —Rob Picheta, CNN Money, 7 Feb. 2026

Emmanwori speaks with a matter-of-fact confidence that’s not boastful. —Jerry McDonald, Mercury News, 4 Feb. 2026

Follow up with clear documentation and updates so your efforts are visible but not boastful. —Sho Dewan, Forbes.com, 27 Jan. 2026

Laemmle, footing the bill for these sumptuous methods, saw an opportunity to position Universal as a spare-no-expense enterprise, with a billboard in Times Square keeping boastful track of the ever-mounting budget. —Richard Brody, New Yorker, 17 Jan. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined above