Bloviate

Pronunciation

Origin

1845,

OED

“In Defense of Harding the Bloviator”, Ben Zimmer, Word Routes: Exploring the Pathways of our Lexicon, July 29, 2010

US, Ohio,

World Wide Words|weirdwords/ww-blo1.htm|Bloviate|13 Mar. 1999

from blow ("speak idly, boast") + -i- + -ate, by analogy with deviate.

Full definition of bloviate

Verb

1. (US) To speak or discourse at length in a pompous or boastful manner.
• 1845, Huron Reflector, Norwalk, Ohio, 14 Oct. 3/1:Peter P. Low, Esq., will with open throat…bloviate about the farmers being taxed upon the full value of their farms, while bankers are released from taxation.

Usage notes

Particularly used of politicians, bloviate has passed in and out of fashion over the centuries, falling out of fashion by end of 19th century, but was popularized in the early 1920s with reference to president Warren G. Harding, and again in the 1990s and then United States presidential election, 2000, and is currently in popular use.

Online Etymology Dictionary

Synonyms

• See also .

Derived terms

• bloviation
• bloviator

Related terms

• blowhard

Anagrams

• oblative