rodomontade
playrhodomontade
From the M-W Editors
rodomontade was our Word of the Day on 03/25/2008. Hear the podcast!
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Examples of rodomontade in a Sentence
for all of its jingoistic rodomontade, the government had no thought-out plan for the war and its aftermath
Did You Know?
Rodomontade (which can also be spelled "rhodomontade") originated in Italian poetry. Rodomonte was a fierce and boastful king in Orlando Innamorato, Count Matteo M. Boiardo's late 15th century epic, and later in the sequel Orlando Furioso, written by poet Lodovico Ariosto in 1516. In the late 16th century, English speakers began to use "rodomont" as a noun meaning "braggart." Soon afterwards, "rodomontade" entered the language as a noun (meaning "empty bluster" or "bragging speech") and later as an adjective (meaning "boastful" or "ranting"). The noun "rodomont" is no longer used in English, but "rodomontade" is still with us.
Origin and Etymology of rodomontade
French, from Middle French, from rodomont blusterer, from Italian Rodomonte, character in Orlando Innamorato by Matteo M. Boiardo
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