gasconade means of or pertaining to exaggeration or extravagant boasting; bombastic.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, gasconade ranks #3,337 of 14,444 for Most Exacting Words, #7,127 of 14,431 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #7,252 of 14,438 for Most Storied Words, #7,352 of 14,322 for Scariest Words.
gasconade is pronounced /ɡæskəˈneɪd/.
Why “gasconade” is a great word
Extravagant boasting or bluster, specifically of one's own achievements. From French *gasconnade*, from *gasconner* ("to boast, chatter"), literally "to talk like a Gascon," referring to a native of Gascony, a region in France whose inhabitants were stereotypically reputed for bragging; first recorded in English in the mid-17th century. Unlike "bravado," which implies a defiant show of courage, or "bombast," which denotes pompous language in general, gasconade is the specific, performative inflation of the self. It is the soldier who claims to have single-handedly won the war, the barroom tale of a fish that fought like a demon, and the relentless echo of self-aggrandizement in a chamber of one's own making—the sound a man makes when he is desperate to be larger than the space he actually occupies.
Etymology
From French gasconnade, from Gascon (“native of Gascony”) + -ade, equivalent to Gascon (“native of Gascony”) + -ade, literally "to talk like a Gascon". See French gasconnade.
adj
- Of or pertaining to exaggeration or extravagant boasting; bombastic.“But Poetry and her sister arts are now in the decline; since the Gasconade style is out of date they seem quite at a stand.”
name
- A small city in Gasconade County, Missouri, United States, named after the Gasconade River.
- the Gasconade River, a river in Missouri which flows into the Missouri River near the above town.
noun
- Boastful talk.“[…] the Gasconads of France, Rodomontads of Spain, Fanfaronads of Italy, and Bragadochio brags of all other countries, could no more astonish his invincible heart, then would the cheeping of a mouse a bear robbed of her whelps.”
verb
- To talk boastfully.“The Frenchman, not being able to bring the precise number, received only, as the first month's pay, 2,000 rupees. He demanded an audience, talked loud, and gasconaded.”
Words closest in meaning
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