Word of the Day

: January 23, 2013

fanfaronade

noun fan-fair-uh-NAYD

What It Means

: empty boasting : bluster

fanfaronade in Context

Having grown weary of the former governor's fanfaronade and lack of concrete action, voters sent a clear message at the polls and elected his opponent by a landslide.

"I don't intend this as an article about how to divorce oneself from conceit, narcissism and fanfaronade...." - From an article by Phil Guarnieri in the Floral Park Dispatch (New York), August 10, 2012

Did You Know?

If we tell you that fanfaronade is what fanfarons do, you'll easily guess that "fanfaron" means "braggart." Both "fanfaron" (a fairly uncommon word found in unabridged dictionaries) and "fanfaronade" derive from "fanfarrón," a Spanish word for a boaster that probably developed in imitation of the verbal claptrap blared by blowhards. "Fanfarrón" gave Spanish speakers "fanfarronada," which the French borrowed with the spelling "fanfaronnade"; English speakers further modified the French term into "fanfaronade" in the mid-1600s. Some etymologists believe English speakers borrowed "fanfaron" directly from Spanish, but others think that word also passed through French before reaching our language. It isn't clear whether "fanfaron" and "fanfaronade" are directly related to the similar "fanfare" or if that term arose as yet another transliteration of the sound of a showy or pompous display.