1
as in rhetoric
boastful speech or writing
his braggadocio hid the fact that he felt personally inadequate
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2
as in braggart
someone who boasts
the swaggering braggadocio is a stock figure of American folklore, with Davy Crockett and Mike Fink being prime examples
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of braggadocio
Trump’s braggadocio State of the Union message about our surging economy and his compassionate ICE raids was the icing on the Circassian cake.
—
Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 26 Feb. 2026
Sure enough, Son did indeed suffer another precipitous fall, though today is once again brimming with braggadocio.
—Charlie Campbell, Time, 24 Feb. 2026
The distortions of segregation in the South in the forties left their mark, to be sure, but behind his tropism for the limelight, underneath all the braggadocio that is mistaken for arrogance, lies Jesse Louis Jackson's greatest longing in life—the lust for legitimacy.
—Gail Sheehy, Vanity Fair, 20 Feb. 2026
Timmy’s Marty promotional tour was loud and brash — viral Zoom videos, Soulja Boy routines in Brazil, standing atop the Sphere in Las Vegas — and had a lot of people wondering if his decision to adopt a Marty Mauser-style braggadocio would ultimately hurt his chances to win over Oscar voters.
—Vulture Editors, Vulture, 12 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for braggadocio
Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 26 Feb. 2026
Sure enough, Son did indeed suffer another precipitous fall, though today is once again brimming with braggadocio.
—Charlie Campbell, Time, 24 Feb. 2026
The distortions of segregation in the South in the forties left their mark, to be sure, but behind his tropism for the limelight, underneath all the braggadocio that is mistaken for arrogance, lies Jesse Louis Jackson's greatest longing in life—the lust for legitimacy.
—Gail Sheehy, Vanity Fair, 20 Feb. 2026
Timmy’s Marty promotional tour was loud and brash — viral Zoom videos, Soulja Boy routines in Brazil, standing atop the Sphere in Las Vegas — and had a lot of people wondering if his decision to adopt a Marty Mauser-style braggadocio would ultimately hurt his chances to win over Oscar voters.
—Vulture Editors, Vulture, 12 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for braggadocio
Recent Examples of Synonyms for braggadocio
Noun
-
Framed as a platform for addressing inequality, climate change and the rise of right-wing political movements, yet the rhetoric coming from it has raised questions in Washington and across the region about whether a more coordinated political counterweight to the United States is taking shape.—
Armando Regil Velasco,
FOXNews.com,
25 Apr. 2026
-
People have been called pedants since the early modern period—pedante is a fifteenth-century Italian coinage for a professional teacher of Latin literature and rhetoric—but have been acting pedantically for millennia.—
Clare Bucknell,
The New York Review of Books,
25 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Of the many incarnations of the narcissist, there is the braggart, and there is also the neurotic.—
Doreen St. Félix,
New Yorker,
6 Dec. 2025
-
Still, Kimmel never came off as a braggart.—
Ben Travers,
IndieWire,
24 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
Humble brag; That turned out to be a stroke of genius on my part.—
Marc Silver,
NPR,
19 Apr. 2026
-
However, the new Master Suites may overtake Silvers in popularity; their 721-to-826 square feet include brag-worthy 270-degree views.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
15 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
The story is told from Dah’s perspective, as Jocelyn—who displays a quasi-mystical rapport with fighting cocks—suffers an emotional breakdown, putting their business and their lives in danger.—
The New Yorker,
The New Yorker,
26 July 2024
-
The former became fighting cocks and the latter became sows.—
Matthew Gavin Frank,
Harper's Magazine,
6 June 2023
Noun
-
Brian Gibson’s gangrenous bass riffs and gibbering, muffled vocals have even more gonzo energy than usual, while Chippendale mixes bombast and finesse with his customary flair.—
Reed Jackson,
SPIN,
24 Apr. 2026
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Eye-rolling over Gorka’s bombast has given way to anxiety about the administration’s preparedness to identify and stop major plots.—
Hannah Allam,
ProPublica,
21 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Much of that singularity was centered in McCarthy’s prose, which ricocheted—sometimes gracefully, sometimes jarringly—between gruff matter-of-factness and soaring, biblical grandiloquence.—
Alex Shephard,
The New Republic,
13 June 2023
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Several of them can fly, and all have at least a touch of grandiloquence to them.—
Michael Nordine,
Variety,
11 Aug. 2022
Noun
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Insider Ian Rapoport will update those three with league chatter and trade buzz.—
Steven Louis Goldstein,
New York Times,
25 Apr. 2026
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Their laughs and chatter fill the countryside and one another’s hearts, the merriment binding them all together like caterpillars in one big cocoon.—
Brian Moylan,
Vulture,
24 Apr. 2026
Noun
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In addition to Molyneux’s usual game design bluster, though, was a newfound enthusiasm for the idea of making money from simply playing a game.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
27 Apr. 2026
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Some five years later, amid a war between the US, Israel, and Iran, these islands dotted across the Strait of Hormuz are caught in a different kind of bluster.—
Adam Pourahmadi,
CNN Money,
22 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Braggadocio.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/braggadocio. Accessed 1 May. 2026.
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