braggadocio

English

Etymology

After Braggadocchio, boastful character in Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene (1590), apparently a pseudo-Italian coinage.

Pronunciation

• (Italianate) IPA: /braɡaˈdoːt͡ʃio/
• (RP) IPA: /ˌbɹæ.ɡəˈdəʊ.t͡ʃɪ.əʊ/, X-SAMPA: /"%br{.g@"d@U.tSI.@U/

Noun

braggadocio (plural braggadocios or braggadocii)

1. A braggart.
   • 1652, Thomas Urquhart, “Εκσκυβαλαυρον (The Jewel)”, in The Works of Sir Thomas Urquhart of Cromarty, Knight^[1], Edinburgh: Thomas Maitland Dundrennan, ISBN 0707303273, published 1834, page 217:

     […] the Gasconads of France, Rodomontads of Spain, Fanfaronads of Italy, and Bragadochio brags of all other countries, could no more astonish his invincible heart, then would the cheeping of a mouse a bear robbed of her whelps.

2. Empty boasting.

Quotations

• For usage examples of this term, see the citations page.

Synonyms

• (braggart): blowhard
• (empty boasting): big talk

See also

• machismo