boastful
Americanadjective
adjective
Usage
What does boastful mean? Boastful is used to describe someone who is known for boasting—bragging, especially in a way that exaggerates or shows excessive pride about the boaster’s skills, possessions, or accomplishments. Boastful is especially used to describe a person who boasts all the time. It can also be used to describe such claims, as in He made boastful claims about all of the awards he had won. Boastful people most often boast about themselves—their skills, their possessions, or the things that they have accomplished—but a person can also be boastful about someone else. A parent might be boastful about their child’s accomplishments, for example. Example: No one has ever actually seen him perform, but that doesn’t stop him from being boastful about how good he is.
Other Word Forms
- boastfully adverb
- boastfulness noun
- overboastful adjective
- overboastfully adverb
- overboastfulness noun
- unboastful adjective
- unboastfully adverb
- unboastfulness noun
Etymology
Origin of boastful
First recorded in 1275–1325, boastful is from the Middle English word bostful. See boast 1, -ful
Explanation
Someone who is overly proud and arrogant can be described as boastful. Your boastful classmate is always going on and on about his own amazing achievements and incredible successes. It's perfectly okay to brag about yourself sometimes. A boastful person just doesn't know when to stop talking about how great they are, or what amazing possessions they own, or how successful they are. If you hear yourself talking pretentiously about your record collection or the many languages you can speak, you'll know you're being boastful. That's when it's time to stop, ask some questions, and give someone else a chance to shine.
Vocabulary lists containing boastful
ACT Reading Test: Words to Capture Tone, List 3
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Tone and Point of View, List 5
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Enchanted Air
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“I never wanted to play Falstaff,” he says, of Shakespeare’s portly, boastful knight from “Henry IV.”
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 8, 2026
At press briefings and public events, the former television host has adopted an at times boastful, mocking tone in describing the offensive.
From Barron's • Mar. 10, 2026
And the jazzy “Robbery,” a boastful number about dominating the competition and coming out on top, has musical references to Thelonious Monk and Duke Ellington and features rapper Doechii.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 20, 2026
For McInerny, whose effusive grace is a noticeable contrast to Cécile’s boastful assuredness, time on location in Cassis before filming was essential for inhabiting her character’s demeanor.
From Salon • May 2, 2025
He had known his sort in King’s Landing—fawning to his superiors, harsh to his inferiors, as blind as he was boastful and too proud by half.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
