ostentatious (2009-10-17)

Part of Speech: adjective

Pronunciation: [ahs-ten-'tey-shês]

Definition: Spectacular, gaudy and superficial in appearance or behavior for display.

Usage: "Max makes an ostentatious annual gift to the needy, then returns to his stinginess for the rest of the year." "The party was an ostentatious affair designed to take our minds off the threat of war."

Suggested Usage: "Meretricious," one of our former Words of the Day, focuses on ridiculous appearance; this word calls to mind flamboyant or gaudy appearance. The noun is "ostentation." A related adjective, ostensible, means "visible, apparent" but can also mean "apparent but not real."

Etymology: Latin ostentatio, -onis "vain, pompous, or deceitful display" from ob- "before, about, over" + tendere "to stretch." The PIE stem, *ten(d)- "stretch" also shows up in the Latin words underlying "tendon," "tend," "extend," Sanskrit tantram "loom," sitar from Persian tar "string," and Greek tetanos "stiff, rigid." The English reflex of the root, without the -d extension, is "thin."