WORD OF THE DAY: BRAGGADOCIO
noun | brag-uh-DOH-see-oh
What It Means
Braggadocio refers to brash and self-confident boasting—that is, the annoying or exaggerated talk of someone who is trying to sound very proud or brave.
// His braggadocio hid the fact that he felt personally inadequate.
Examples of BRAGGADOCIO
“In total, Lil Wayne has sold more than 120 million albums, making him one of the world’s top-selling artists, and, his braggadocio aside, he’s widely considered one of most influential hip-hop artists of his generation and one of the greatest rappers of all time.” — L. Kent Wolgamott, The Lincoln (Nebraska) Journal Star, 1 Feb. 2024
Did You Know?
Though Braggadocio is not as well-known as other fictional characters like Pollyanna, the Grinch, or Scrooge, in lexicography he holds a special place next to them as one of the many characters whose name has become an established word in English. The English poet Edmund Spenser originally created Braggadocio as a personification of boasting in his epic poem The Faerie Queene. As early as 1594, about four years after the poem was published, English speakers began using the name as a general term for any blustering blowhard. The now more common use of braggadocio, referring to the talk or behavior of such windy cockalorums, developed in the early 18th century.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary