Synonyms of pompous

pompous

adjective

ˈpäm-pəs 

1

as in arrogant

having a feeling of superiority that shows itself in an overbearing attitude

the pompous waiter served us in the manner of a person doing some poor soul a great favor

Synonyms & Similar Words

• arrogant
• cavalier
• superior
• supercilious
• high-and-mighty
• pretentious
• haughty
• bumptious
• important
• uppity
• domineering
• smug
• assumptive
• dominant
• presumptuous
• sniffy
• high-handed
• masterful
• imperious
• uppish
• huffy
• chesty
• high-hat
• authoritarian
• highfalutin
• overweening
• presuming
• lordly
• proud
• peremptory
• huffish
• self-assertive
• patronizing
• dominating
• lofty
• condescending
• toplofty
• snobbish
• impudent
• stiff-necked
• bossy
• snooty
• pontifical
• boastful
• magisterial
• snobby
• vainglorious
• self-asserting
• cocky
• bombastic
• narcissistic
• egocentric
• conceited
• disdainful
• saucy
• blusterous
• hubristic
• egotistic
• vain
• swaggering
• impertinent
• blustery
• pontificating
• egoistic
• prideful
• complacent
• self-satisfied
• self-centered
• braggy
• self-conceited
• uninhibited
• braggart
• self-complacent
• stuck-up
• immodest
• brash
• extroverted
• bragging
• self-flattering
• self-promoting
• self-loving
• orgulous
• unreserved
• self-affected
• self-pleased
• self-applauding
• forward

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• humble
• modest
• lowly
• unpretentious
• timid
• bashful
• sheepish
• diffident
• shy
• subdued
• mousy
• passive
• introverted
• demure
• deferential
• shrinking
• meek
• unassuming
• unarrogant
• unobtrusive
• unassertive
• compliant
• submissive
• acquiescent
• unaggressive
• quiet
• self-doubting
• self-critical
• overmodest
• cringing
• yielding
• reserved
• retiring
• cowering

2

as in smug

having too high an opinion of oneself

a pompous piano teacher who thought that the music world was lucky to have her

Synonyms & Similar Words

• smug
• arrogant
• proud
• vain
• self-important
• vainglorious
• conceited
• egotistic
• domineering
• selfish
• bigheaded
• egoistic
• important
• prideful
• complacent
• confident
• self-satisfied
• self-conceited
• stuck-up
• overweening
• boastful
• biggety
• snobbish
• supercilious
• consequential
• cocky
• high-and-mighty
• bombastic
• snooty
• self-opinionated
• cavalier
• snobby
• assured
• bumptious
• blusterous
• haughty
• swellheaded
• uppity
• pretentious
• swaggering
• blustery
• pontifical
• braggy
• assumptive
• holier-than-thou
• braggart
• masterful
• disdainful
• uppish
• overconfident
• bragging
• high-handed
• huffy
• chesty
• superior
• high-hat
• self-assertive
• presumptuous
• imperious
• toplofty
• fastuous
• condescending
• self-assured
• self-confident
• lordly
• patronizing
• self-centered
• peremptory
• lofty
• highfalutin
• presuming
• self-congratulatory
• self-glorifying
• self-contented
• self-dramatizing
• self-asserting
• self-promoting
• self-engrossed
• self-gratulatory
• self-adulatory
• self-applauding
• self-affected

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• humble
• modest
• diffident
• egoless
• timid
• meek
• unassertive
• self-critical
• uncomplacent
• unassuming
• unpretentious
• self-doubting
• down-to-earth
• bashful
• sheepish
• self-reproachful
• self-distrustful
• mousy
• shy
• introverted
• self-reproving
• demure
• retiring
• shrinking
• overmodest
• unarrogant

3

as in pretentious

self-consciously trying to present an appearance of grandeur or importance

a pompous gambling casino decorated to look like a palace in ancient Rome

Synonyms & Similar Words

• arrogant
• pretentious
• grandiose
• ostentatious
• smug
• proud
• high-minded
• snippy
• highfalutin
• affected
• la-di-da
• cavalier
• vainglorious
• high-and-mighty
• aggressive
• conceited
• grandiloquent
• rude
• bumptious
• egotistic
• vain
• snobbish
• supercilious
• sententious
• confident
• uppity
• self-important
• high-sounding
• haughty
• presumptuous
• egoistic
• snobby
• prideful
• imperious
• high-handed
• important
• complacent
• high-toned
• boastful
• disdainful
• self-centered
• self-satisfied
• cocky
• high-hat
• insolent
• hoity-toity
• assertive
• self-aggrandizing
• impudent
• self-conceited
• overweening
• self-obsessed
• high-flown
• self-complacent
• superior
• self-glorifying
• showy
• brassy
• sure
• flamboyant
• cheeky
• gaudy
• self-dramatizing
• self-assertive
• self-promoting
• airy
• stuck-up
• lordly
• glitzy
• garish
• flashy
• self-assured
• self-confident
• self-pleased
• audacious
• self-asserting
• braggart
• bold
• bragging
• flaunting
• splashy
• forward

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• modest
• unpretentious
• humble
• meek
• unassuming
• homely
• lowly
• down-to-earth
• passive
• timid
• retiring
• quiet
• bashful
• unassertive
• shy
• demure
• mousy
• reserved
• diffident
• overmodest

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of pompous

Same goes for Mary’s husband (Corey Stoll), a rather pompous struggling professor. — Randy Myers, Mercury News, 19 Mar. 2026

And the less said of the poorly mixed, pompous Machina, the better. — Kory Grow, Rolling Stone, 3 Mar. 2026

The pompous clergyman enters the life of the Bennet family, his distant cousins, with the assumption that, given his respectable position and benefactor, Lady Catherine De Bourgh, one of those daughters would be happy to marry him. — Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 26 Feb. 2026

In Italy in the 1960s, announcements about a state-of-the-art highway that would soon connect the economically struggling south with the advanced north were as pompous as the scale of the project. — Matthew Carey, Deadline, 17 Feb. 2026