Make Your Point > Archived Issues > OSTENTATIOUS
Send Make Your Point issues straight to your inbox.
explore the archives:
Let's look at two words that came from the same Latin roots meaning "show," or literally, "stretch in front of."
Something ostentatious is showy, gaudy, boastful, making a grand yet tacky display. We'll explore that word today.
And something osten___le is declared to be true--it's shown or displayed as if it were true--but it isn't necessarily true. Can you recall this one?
make your point with...
"OSTENTATIOUS"
Ostentatious people and things are showy and boastful, as if they want others to pay attention to them and admire them.
Pronunciation:
OSS ten TAY shuss
Part of speech:
Adjective.
(Adjectives are describing words, like "large" or "late."
They can be used in two ways:
1. Right before a noun, as in "an ostentatious thing" or "an ostentatious person."
2. After a linking verb, as in "It was ostentatious" or "He was ostentatious.")
Other common forms:
ostentation (or ostentatiousness), ostentatiously
How to use it:
"Ostentatious" is the word to pick when your subject seems to be spreading out its arms, saying "Look at me! Look at all this! Isn't it just grand? Don't you love it?"
So, keeping in mind that it's a strong word often spoken judgmentally, talk about ostentatious speeches, gestures, and displays; ostentatious people, habits, and styles; ostentatious clothes and cars and houses; someone's ostentatious contempt for things or ostentatious disregard for things, and so on.
examples:
With their long, slender stems and candy-colored blossoms, orchids have always seemed ostentatious to me. (I guess that's why we have the word orchidaceous!)
He donates to all sorts of humanitarian causes, anonymously and without ostentation.
study it now:
Look away from the screen to explain the definition in your own words. You’ll know you understand what "ostentatious" means when you can explain it without saying "attracting attention to itself in a gaudy way" or "trying too hard to seem fancy or admirable."
try it out:
Fill in the blanks: "Here's one of (a particular singer or actor)'s more ostentatious lines: '_____.'"
Example: "Here's one of Meghan Trainor's more ostentatious lines: 'What's that icy thang hangin' 'round my neck? / That's gold, show me some respect.'"
before you review:
Spend at least 20 seconds occupying your mind with the game below. Then try the review questions. Don’t go straight to the review now—let your working memory empty out first.
License Plate Words!
You’ve spotted a cluster of three letters on a license plate. Keep all three letters together—don’t insert any letters between them—but add any letters you like to the left and/or right of the cluster to form words.
For example, when you spot the cluster CKG, you can form BACKGROUND and BACKGAMMON (and all their related words, like BACKGROUNDER and BACKGAMMONING, for a total of 8 possible words).
We’ll move from easy to hard clusters as the month goes on. (For the curious, you can generate a complete list of answers using a tool like this one.) Let's play!
Our previous question:
If you spot the cluster INB, you can use it to form 39 words. Give yourself a minute or so. How many can you think of?
Possible answers:
You may have thought of INBORN, INBOUND, INBOX, INBREED, PINBALL, RAINBOW, and/or SHINBONE.
Try this today:
If you spot the cluster XTA, you can use it to form 25 words. Give yourself a minute or so. How many can you think of?
review today's word:
1. The opposite of OSTENTATIOUS is
A. MODEST
B. POLISHED
C. STANDOFFISH
2. Always without ostentation, _____ has pointed out that "_____."
A. Mark Twain .. if you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.
B. Jack Kerouac .. the only people for [him] are the mad ones... the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars.
C. Kanye West .. rappers came and went, [he's] been here from the start
Answers are below.
a final word:
To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact Liesl at Liesl@HiloTutor.com
Disclaimer: Word meanings presented here are expressed in plain language and are limited to common, useful applications only. Readers interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words are encouraged to check a dictionary. Likewise, word meanings, usage, and pronunciations are limited to American English; these elements may vary across world Englishes.
Answers to review questions:
1. A
2. A
Let's look at two words that came from the same Latin roots meaning "show," or literally, "stretch in front of."
"OSTENTATIOUS" Ostentatious people and things are showy and boastful, as if they want others to pay attention to them and admire them. Part of speech:
With their long, slender stems and candy-colored blossoms, orchids have always seemed ostentatious to me. (I guess that's why we have the word orchidaceous!)
Look away from the screen to explain the definition in your own words. You’ll know you understand what "ostentatious" means when you can explain it without saying "attracting attention to itself in a gaudy way" or "trying too hard to seem fancy or admirable."
Fill in the blanks: "Here's one of (a particular singer or actor)'s more ostentatious lines: '_____.'"
Spend at least 20 seconds occupying your mind with the game below. Then try the review questions. Don’t go straight to the review now—let your working memory empty out first.
1. The opposite of OSTENTATIOUS is
To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact Liesl at Liesl@HiloTutor.com
|