Etymo

bombast

Pompous or inflated speech and writing.

Played on · Day 54 · word 3 of 5

Stuffing moved from clothes into speech

How bombast reached English

oldest first

Simplified path. The puzzle showed the main steps; the full route is being checked.

  1. English

    bombace

    ‘Raw cotton’

    within English: cotton became stuffing

  2. English

    bombast

    ‘Padding or stuffing’

    stuffing became inflated rhetoric

  3. English

    bombast

    ‘Pompous, inflated speech’

The story of bombast

Pompous language is imagined as verbal stuffing.

Earlier bombace named raw cotton. Bombast was used for padding or stuffing, then figuratively for language inflated with pretension.

The sources differ on the deeper relationship between cotton and silk words. This trail stays with the documented English material, padding and rhetorical uses.

Source

Merriam-Webster: bombast

The entry records earlier textile padding and bombace, and distinguishes the deeper cotton and silk histories.

More words from 29 October 2026

  1. euphonyA quality valued in the sound of prose or verse.
  2. lampA device that gives light.
  3. smorgasbordA varied buffet, or a wide assortment of things.
  4. almondAn edible kernel commonly eaten as a nut.

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