bloviate
verb
Pronunciation
BLOH-vee-ayt
Definition
: to speak or write verbosely and windily
Did You Know?
Warren G. Harding is often linked to bloviate, but to him the word wasn't insulting; it simply meant "to spend time idly." Harding used the word often in that "hanging around" sense, but during his tenure as the 29th U.S. President (1921-23), he became associated with the "verbose" sense of bloviate, perhaps because his speeches tended to the long-winded side. Although he is sometimes credited with having coined the word, it's more likely that Harding picked it up from local slang while hanging around with his boyhood buddies in Ohio in the late 1800s. The term probably derives from a combination of the word blow plus the suffix -ate.
Examples
"It's a slow night. Just a couple of other regulars and our usual bartender, a bright, young fellow who seems to enjoy his customers' company, despite our tendency to bloviate." — Bruce VanWyngarden, The Memphis Flyer, 15 Feb. 2018
"Wall Street analysts and the media covering them have often bloviated about the lamentable end of retail, the death of department stores, the changing fickle habits of Millennials, the power of online retail, and the tragedy of an America left behind." — Monica Showalter, The American Thinker, 6 July 2017
Test Your Vocabulary
What German-derived English verb can mean "to play music" or "to talk extravagantly"?
Merriam-Webster
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