grandiosity
Americannoun
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the quality of seeming impressive or important in an artificial or deliberately pompous way; pretentiousness.
These are mere bogus revolutionaries, high on the sound of their own voices and the silly grandiosity of their claims.
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the quality of actually being imposing or impressive.
Through the photographer's eyes these sprawling, well-known cities become worlds of extreme beauty, elegance, and grandiosity.
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the quality of being more complicated or elaborate than necessary.
Hockey’s a great sport: gentlemanly and understated, with no fuss or grandiosity.
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Psychiatry. an exaggerated belief in one’s own importance, sometimes reaching delusional proportions, as a symptom of a mental illness such as manic disorder.
Paranoiacs tend to carry a bit of guilt with their grandiosity—a sense of some great transgression that has made them a magnet for universal hostility.
Etymology
Origin of grandiosity
First recorded in 1795–1805; from French grandiosité, from Italian grandiosità, equivalent to grandiose ( def. ) + -ity ( def. )
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.
Gov. Gavin Newsom hailed the deal with Google, modest though it was, with characteristic grandiosity.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 21, 2026
In some ways the films seem to invite accusations of pretension, of reach exceeding grasp and grandeur stretched into grandiosity.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 24, 2025
It is the section he highlights the most, with characteristically chilling grandiosity.
From Slate • Jun. 11, 2025
He extensively quotes both men's social media posts to "get a full sense of the madness," arguing they're both being consumed by their tendencies "to grandiosity, vindictiveness and paranoia."
From Salon • Mar. 13, 2025
Such grandiose declarations were commonplace during Ceaujescu’s reign, for his master plan—to create a nation worthy of the New Socialist Man—was an exercise in grandiosity.
From "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything" by Steven D. Levitt
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.
