Bumptious
Adjective
Pronunciation
\BUMP-shus\
Definition
- presumptuously,
obtusely, and often noisily self-assertive : obtrusive
Examples
The talk show often features interesting guests, but the
bumptious host's tendency to turn the interview back to himself can get
annoying.
"He had a sense of himself that was strong; that’s why
he was successful as an actor. But he was never bumptious or presumptive, he
was gentle." — Brian Cox, quoted in The Guardian, 15 Jan. 2016
Did You Know?
Etymologists believe that bumptious was probably coined,
perhaps playfully, from the noun bump plus -tious. (Think of the obtrusive way
an overly assertive person might "bump" through a crowd.) When
bumptious was first used around 1800, it meant "conceited." Charles
Dickens used it that way in David Copperfield: "His hair was very smooth
and wavy; but I was informed … that it was a wig … and that he needn't be so
'bounceable'—somebody else said 'bumptious'—about it, because his own red hair
was very plainly to be seen behind."
Name That Synonym
What 5-letter adjective is a synonym of bumptious that
begins with "b" and can also mean "audacious" or
"impudent"?
Merriam-Webster
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