All words

ostentatious

Meaning

Characterized by vulgar or pretentious display; designed to impress or attract notice.

Examples by difficulty

Basic: Simple, everyday vocabulary — the easiest to read.

He arrived in a gold car, wearing a diamond watch that flashed in the sun. His laughter was too loud, his stories too grand. It was all so very ostentatious, a clear attempt to show off, to make everyone look.

The old man wore a coat stitched with gold thread and a hat topped with a fake peacock feather. He stomped around the silent, dusty archive, his boots loud on the stone floor. His whole look was so… loud, trying too hard to be important.

The man wore a suit made of shimmering, gold-threaded silk, a truly ostentatious display that screamed for attention. He gestured wildly with rings on every finger, hoping to impress the other buyers at the rare beetle auction.

Barnaby’s hat was so big and sparkly, it was truly ostentatious. Filled with fake fruit and tiny disco balls, it was clearly designed to impress everyone at the village picnic. He wobbled over, hoping the whole town would gasp.

Barnaby the badger, bored with his humble burrow, decided to adorn it with shiny bottle caps and glitter-covered pebbles. His neighbors giggled at his ostentatious digs, a vulgar display meant to impress, which mostly just attracted confused squirrels looking for dropped nuts.

Normal: Standard, everyday language.

He arrived in a gold-plated limo, wearing a diamond-encrusted suit and a grin that screamed for attention. It was such an ostentatious display, everyone in the room rolled their eyes. He clearly wanted everyone to know how rich he was, but it just made him look foolish.

The billionaire's new solid gold toilet was simply ostentatious. He'd commissioned it after a dream about a Roman emperor, insisting it would really "make a statement" to his guests. Frankly, most people just found it a bit much, a vulgar display that screamed insecurity.

He strutted around the dimly lit basement, flashing his new, overly-shiny, sequined jumpsuit. It was so ostentatious, the cheap fabric catching every stray beam of light. He clearly wanted us to gasp, but mostly we just felt a quiet embarrassment for him.

He arrived in a gold-plated limousine, wearing a sequined jumpsuit and a top hat made of actual peacock feathers. His arrival was so ostentatious, the pigeons themselves scattered, offended by the vulgar display designed purely to attract notice.

Barnaby's new collection of mismatched socks, each adorned with a tiny, glittering, emoji-encrusted disco ball, was truly an ostentatious display. He insisted on wearing them to the library, hoping to impress the pigeons with their vulgar shine and attract notice from anyone who dared to gaze upon such flamboyant foot-coverings.

Advanced: Richer vocabulary that stretches an upper-level reader.

He arrived in a gleaming gold car, wearing a suit covered in rhinestones. The sheer, ostentatious display felt ridiculous, more like a costume than actual clothing. Everyone stared, not with admiration, but with a silent, knowing judgment of his vulgar attempt to impress.

The newcomer's arrival was an event. He wore a coat of shimmering, metallic threads and jingled with every movement, a truly ostentatious display meant to announce his importance and earn admiring glances, though most just found it tiresome.

Her new neighbor’s arrival was heralded by a truly ostentatious caravan of vehicles, each one adorned with more chrome than the last. When he finally stepped out, draped in velvet robes and sporting a golden birdcage on his head, it was clear he intended to dominate the entire block.

Barnaby, with his diamond-encrusted monocle and a peacock feather emerging from his top hat, was undeniably ostentatious. He commissioned a solid gold unicycle, believing its vulgar display would impress the local pigeons into investing in his questionable stock ventures. His flamboyant carriage, pulled by miniature llamas, certainly attracted notice.

Barnaby, a pigeon of discerning tastes, considered the peacock's crest a tad too ostentatious. His own display involved subtly rearranging discarded bottle caps into pleasing geometric patterns on the sidewalk, a quiet art that certainly didn't scream "look at me!" but rather "observe my superior aesthetic."

Challenging: Rare, high-register vocabulary for serious word lovers.

His ostentatious display of wealth, with its garish jewelry and boisterous pronouncements, felt less like genuine prosperity and more like a desperate, vulgar attempt to impress everyone he encountered. The sheer pretension was almost suffocating.

Bartholomew's ostentatious displays, like his solid gold prosthetic leg and the pet griffin he paraded through the marketplace, were meant to awe, but mostly elicited scoffs from the townsfolk who found his attempts to impress rather vulgar.

The parvenu's opulent mansion, a monument to his newfound wealth, was undeniably ostentatious. Gilded cherubs cavorted on every available surface, and the sheer volume of imported marble seemed designed solely to intimidate rather than delight, an affront to any semblance of tasteful restraint.

Barnaby's diamond-encrusted monocle and fuchsia velvet smoking jacket were, to put it mildly, ostentatious. He'd recently acquired a pet dromedary, which he insisted on parading through the opera house, its bejeweled saddle glinting under the chandeliers, a truly conspicuous testament to his extravagant, albeit questionable, taste.

Barnaby Buttercup, a preeminent collector of artisanal taxidermied squirrels, unveiled his latest acquisition: a squirrel sporting a diamond-encrusted monocle and a miniature velvet smoking jacket. The entire affair was ostentatious, a vulgar and pretentious display designed to outshine even the most extravagant peacock's plumage at the annual Rodent Aristocracy Gala.

Difficulty

Advanced — Less frequent words that stretch an upper-level vocabulary.

Appears in

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