How to Use pompous in a Sentence

pompous

adjective
  • She found it difficult to talk about her achievements without sounding pompous.
  • The book is gassy and pompous and just fraudulent and dumb as hell.
    — Geek's Guide To The Galaxy, WIRED, 15 July 2022
  • Here's how to talk about wine without sounding like a pompous jerk.
    — Sam Dangremond, Town & Country, 7 Dec. 2016
  • Then give the land back, you pompous charlatans.
    — Joe Soucheray, Twin Cities, 2 May 2026
  • Basden could have slicked up his acting with a lot of pompous pop star clichés.
    — Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor, 25 Mar. 2025
  • Some people could view it, for lack of a better word, douchey or pompous.
    — Emma Fraser and Sophie Brookover, Town & Country, 21 Dec. 2022
  • A lot of teasing is aimed at pompous food snobs these days, but not nearly enough.
    — Wsj Arts, WSJ, 19 Jan. 2023
  • Genet’s face stared out from the cover, once old and pompous, now young and troubled.
    — Saïd Sayrafiezadeh, The New Yorker, 2 May 2022
  • Jain didn’t barge onto the scene with the pompous bravado as many others do.
    — Alexander Puutio, Forbes.com, 16 May 2025
  • The dwarves anchor it and temper some of the show’s more pompous instincts.
    — Sydney Odman, The Hollywood Reporter, 31 Aug. 2022
  • That pompous putz at a party reminds us how great our true friends really are.
    — Andy Kessler, WSJ, 19 Dec. 2021
  • Jordan will clearly take a Chad-like role as pompous villain.
    — Rebecca Farley, refinery29.com, 29 May 2018
  • And the less said of the poorly mixed, pompous Machina, the better.
    — Kory Grow, Rolling Stone, 3 Mar. 2026
  • That’s why the big live oak at the cemetery is such a refuge, with nothing but a few pompous stones to block the breeze.
    — Bill Finch, al, 20 July 2023
  • King Lear is the basic structure, if that doesn’t sound too pompous, but with magic wands.
    — Laura Hudson, The Verge, 30 May 2018
  • That sounded a little bit pompous but there was a bit of competition.
    — Steve Baltin, Forbes, 2 June 2022
  • Nelis renders the professor a pompous and pedantic twit but not a heartless one.
    — Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 19 Mar. 2025
  • To act as if this is a shocking revelation is, to put it mildly, the height of pompous rhetoric.
    — WSJ, 17 Apr. 2018
  • Unbeknownst to her, pompous gods of island make bet over which is stronger, love or death - stakes being girl's life.
    — Rasputin Todd, Cincinnati.com, 18 June 2018
  • Leary, a rich businessman, tagged along, and, as was his wont, mocked the pompous bishops who swanned around the place like kings.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 19 Aug. 2021
  • Plemons is a hoot as a pompous villain who isn’t averse to breaking into song with his crew of henchmen.
    — Stephen Humphries, The Christian Science Monitor, 29 July 2021
  • Tired of pompous bartenders giving you attitude or, worse yet, the cold shoulder?
    — Wired Blogs, WIRED, 25 Jan. 2006
  • The hero, a pompous TV weatherman, is compelled to live the same day over and over.
    — Anne Fadiman, Wired, 17 June 2020
  • For example, a pompous man in a suit slipping on a banana peel and falling into a pool.
    — Carina Woudenberg, Discover Magazine, 11 July 2021
  • The hawker is always full of pompous boasts — lies — and the freak show behind him is sad and disappointing.
    — Anchorage Daily News, 28 Jan. 2018
  • That’s the reason McKay goes for a pompous, all-star spectacle.
    — Armond White, National Review, 12 Jan. 2022
  • The picture of chilling villainy, Reehl is pompous and power-hungry.
    — Amanda Rooker, Orange County Register, 3 May 2017
  • Guigal’s strategy isn’t built on pompous conservatism, but in long-term thinking.
    — Paul Caputo, Forbes.com, 22 Aug. 2025
  • However, in what almost feels like penance for his long career of pompous portrayals, he is put through the wringer on Curb.
    — Peter Allen Clark, Time, 17 Jan. 2020
  • The moment is both intimate to the point of voyeurism and grand on a scale that rivals the pompous ceremony of royalty.
    — Anne Cohen, refinery29.com, 27 Nov. 2020

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'pompous.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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