bombast

English

Noun

bombast

1. Originally, cotton, or cotton wool.
2. Cotton, or any soft, fibrous material, used as stuffing for garments; stuffing; padding.
3. (figuratively) High-sounding words; an inflated style; language above the dignity of the occasion; fustian.
   • 1898, William Graham Sumner, “The Conquest of the United States by Spain”, in War and Other Essays, Yale, published 1911, page 331:

     Upon a little serious examination the off-hand disposal of an important question of policy by the declaration that Americans can do anything proves to be only a silly piece of bombast.

Verb

bombast (third-person singular simple present bombasts, present participle bombasting, simple past and past participle bombasted)

1. To swell or fill out; to pad; to inflate.

Adjective

bombast

1. High-sounding; inflated; big without meaning; magniloquent; bombastic.