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Grandiloquence, which debuted in English in the 16th century, is one of several English words pertaining to speech that derive from the Latin loqui, meaning "to speak." Other offspring of loqui include eloquent ("marked by fluent expression"), loquacious ("full of excessive talk"), and soliloquy ("a long, dramatic monologue"). Grandiloquence comes (probably via Middle French) from the Latin adjective grandiloquus, which combines loqui and the adjective grandis ("grand or great"). A word that is very similar in meaning to grandiloquence is magniloquence—and the similarity is not surprising. Magniloquence combines loqui with magnus, another Latin word meaning "great."

Examples of grandiloquence in a Sentence

a heavyweight champion who was famous for his entertaining grandiloquence prior to every match the predictably wearisome grandiloquence of the speeches at a political convention

Recent Examples on the Web Many times, vision statements end up being washed up by grandiloquence. — Nacho De Marco, Forbes, 26 Jan. 2022 There will be plenty more rhetoric, pomposity and grandiloquence in the next few weeks as negotiations between the union and MLB get hot and heavy. — Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY, 13 May 2020 Behind the grandiloquence of his note was a young man, alone, under extraordinary stress. — Barton Gellman, Washington Post, 11 May 2020 His most recent high-profile job, foreign secretary, found him ill at ease in a role that required more gravitas than grandiloquence. — Benjamin Mueller, New York Times, 22 July 2019 Bird never did have the hops to transport himself from one piece of famed parquet to another, but that didn’t stop Pitino from selling the kind of grandiloquence that epitomized the too-good-to-be-true verbiage and essence of the college game. — Harvey Araton, New York Times, 28 Sep. 2017 Rose’s plain-spokenness is the necessary counterweight to her husband’s grandiloquence. — A. O. Scott, New York Times, 15 Dec. 2016 See More

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

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Cite this Entry

“Grandiloquence.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/grandiloquence. Accessed 18 May. 2022.

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