Word of the Day: Bombast

by Maeve Maddox

Bombast (bŏm’băst’) means loud-mouthed, inflated speech. Bombast was cotton stuffing used to pad some types of clothing. The adjective is bombastic.

No, really – rent it [V or Vendetta] tonight, adjust your mental filter so you’re expecting a parody of bombastic posturing guff, and I guarantee you’ll be roaring with laughter at least eight times. (The Guardian)

“300” is about as violent as “Apocalypto” and twice as stupid. Adapted from a graphic novel by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley, it offers up a bombastic spectacle of honor and betrayal, rendered in images that might have been airbrushed onto a customized van sometime in the late 1970s. (NY Times)