Word of the Day
: June 26, 2010gasconade
play
noun
gas-kuh-NAYD
What It Means
: bravado or exaggerated boasting
gasconade in Context
"Honesty and frankness do more for the public's confidence … than extravagant boasting or supercilious gasconade." (F. Gonzalez-Crussi, The New York Times, April 7, 2002)
Did You Know?
The citizens of Gascony in southwestern France have proverbially been regarded as prone to bragging. Their reputation has been immortalized in such swashbuckling literary works as Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers and Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac. Linguistically, the legend survives in the word "gascon," meaning "braggart," as well as in "gasconade" itself.
More Words of the Day
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May 03
sleuth
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May 02
ziggurat
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May 01
convoluted
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Apr 30
insouciance
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Apr 29
furtive
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Apr 28
alacrity
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Merriam-Webster unabridged