Pretentious Vocabulary

noun a show, pretense, or display of manners, feelings, or beliefs that are not genuine or natural

• Her affectation of wealth was evident in the way she flaunted expensive designer clothes.
• Stop with the affectation of sophistication, just be yourself.
• Her affectation of being cool is so annoying, she's just trying too hard.
• His constant affectation of happiness masked the pain he was truly feeling inside.

noun inflated or extravagant language, especially on unimportant subjects

• The politician's bombast during the speech failed to impress the audience.
• Stop with all the bombast, just tell us what you really think.
• His bombastic rant was way over the top.
• His bombast was like a balloon filled with hot air, ready to burst at any moment.

noun a person who uses pretentious language or behavior

adjective pompous or pretentious in speech, style, or manner

• The professor's highfalutin language was difficult for the students to understand.
• I can't stand his highfalutin attitude, always acting like he's better than everyone else.
• She's always talking in that highfalutin way, like she's too good for us.
• His highfalutin ideas about success are not practical in the real world.

verb to talk rapidly and superficially about a variety of topics

• The chemist could only smatter a few words in Mandarin during the international conference.
• I can only smatter a bit of French from my high school classes.
• She tried to smatter some slang words to fit in with the cool kids.
• His knowledge of the subject was so limited, he could only smatter a few basic concepts.

adjective showing an excessive or affected interest in or concern with art or artistic matters

• The art critic dismissed the exhibition as too arty-farty for his taste.
• I can't stand all that arty-farty stuff, give me something more down-to-earth.
• Some people think she's just an arty-farty poser.
• His writing style is so arty-farty, it's hard to understand what he's trying to say.