Definition of OSTENTATIOUS

Choose the Right Synonym for ostentatious

showy, pretentious, ostentatious mean given to excessive outward display. showy implies an imposing or striking appearance but usually suggests cheapness or poor taste. the performers' showy costumes pretentious implies an appearance of importance not justified by the thing's value or the person's standing. a pretentious parade of hard words ostentatious stresses vainglorious display or parade. the ostentatious summer homes of the rich

How is ostentatious used?

Ostentatious comes from a Latin word meaning "display," and the idea of display is still very apparent in the English word as it is currently used.

People and things described as ostentatious seem to have put themselves on display; they are practically begging to be looked at. The word is not compliment.

Ostentatious is often applied to buildings that can also be described as luxurious—mansions, fancy high-rises, huge houses with marble columns. Sometimes the description appears in the negative, as when we're told that a house is large, but not ostentatious, which means that it's large but not in a way that calls attention to itself. When the word is applied to objects like clothes and jewelry, the idea is the same: such items attract attention for the luxury they imply.

People who are described as ostentatious—or who have lifestyles described as such—typically are seen as spending money in a way that makes it clear that they have a lot of it. Their consumption may also be described with the word, in which case the emphasis is on the impressive things they buy.

Less often, ostentatious is applied to what attracts attention not because of an implied luxury but because of some other quality. Someone's boastful declarations about volunteer work may be described, for example, as ostentatious.

Examples of ostentatious in a Sentence

That pompous excuse for a plush ride is a thumb in the eye to every taxpayer—and in the case of an ostentatious cost-cutter, genuine hypocrisy. — William Safire, New York Times, 2 May 1991 Always proud to sit down with an ice-cold beer in my hand, I was ostentatious about it in town. — Mark Helprin, New Yorker, 30 May 1988 She had driven to Prague from the Netherlands in her Porsche, telling friends she didn't give a hoot how ostentatious she might appear to the comrades. — Frank Deford, Sports Illustrated, 4 Aug. 1986 an ostentatious display of knowledge wears an ostentatious diamond ring on his little finger

Recent Examples on the Web

Its ostentatious displays of wealth, like paying the $262 million fee to sign Neymar two summers ago, make the club an easy target. — Joshua Robinson, WSJ, "A Billion Dollars Later, PSG Wonders Where It’s Heading," 26 Nov. 2018 Lines are curved, though nothing ever feels ostentatious, as it's made out of natural materials, such as carved wood with a low sheen finish. — Sienna Fantozzi, House Beautiful, "Everything You Need To Know About French Country Design," 9 Nov. 2018 Part of his shtick was being ostentatious, flashing expensive jewelry and wearing absurd outfits. — Zack Beauchamp, Vox, "Milo Yiannopoulos’s collapse shows that no-platforming can work," 5 Dec. 2018 The Aster P range continues the brand’s reputation for pairing ostentatious designs with modest specs and selling the resulting models for thousands. — Jon Porter, The Verge, "Luxury manufacturer Vertu returns with Aster P smartphones," 19 Oct. 2018 Within the film, the wedding is supposed to cost $40 million, a figure which might well suggest the end result will be ostentatious, even tacky. — Emma Dibdin, Harper's BAZAAR, "How Crazy Rich Asians Made Its Wedding-on-a-Budget Look Like $40 Million," 6 Sep. 2018 Eventually his store became synonymous with a kind of ostentatious Hollywood glamour—the L.A. of Alfred Bloomingdale and the Gabor sisters and the pool at the Beverly Hills Hotel. — Maer Roshan, Town & Country, "In Beverly Hills and Beyond, Bijan Carries on a Tradition of Excess and Exclusivity," 22 Oct. 2018 This plum tart is a dessert of a shyer order, less ostentatious than its flashy friends. — Melissa Clark, The Seattle Times, "This French plum tart is a bit on the shy side," 11 Sep. 2018 The 2018 approach is fairly wearable—slightly less ostentatious than the tennis-camp garb once worn unironically, with more refined details like ribbon ties and thoughtful color-blocking. — Halie Lesavage, Glamour, "According to Fashion, Visors Are a Trend Again," 25 July 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'ostentatious.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.