as in hifalutin
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as in moralizing
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as in ranting
disapproving
to speak or express your opinion about something in a way that shows that you think you are always right
We had to listen to her pontificate about the best way to raise children.
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pontificating
Verb
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Last week, Fox premiered the new comedy Going Dutch, about a ranting conservative father (Denis Leary) forced to reconnect with his estranged liberal daughter (Taylor Misiak).—
Daniel Fienberg,
The Hollywood Reporter,
3 Sep. 2019 -
The Pats addressed two of their biggest needs, but instead in Tuesday’s paper there’s me, smiling in my headshot and ranting in print, a clueless dope.—
Andrew Callahan,
Boston Herald,
12 Mar. 2024
Adjective
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Not that Allen wasn’t above poking fun at a friend: In many of their films together, Allen presented Roberts as so cool-headed as to verge on the comically supercilious.—
Peter Tonguette,
Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government,
21 Feb. 2025
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Still, in many voters’ minds, the association between Democrats and supercilious scolding seems hard to shake.—
Andrew Marantz,
The New Yorker,
14 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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There have been pure hammerings inflicted by a magisterial opponent, there have been vain attempts to keep the score down, there have been have-a-go failures and defensive mishaps.—
George Caulkin,
The Athletic,
15 Feb. 2025
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The scholar Stewart Patrick, an expert on international institutions, examines this history in detail in his magisterial book, The Best Laid Plans.—
Michael J. Mazarr,
Foreign Affairs,
7 Aug. 2018
Noun
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That tracks with a 2017 video lecture Baldoni gave as part of a Baha’i Teachings series titled What if Birth and Death Are Actually the Same?—
Peter Kiefer,
The Hollywood Reporter,
21 Feb. 2025
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The Americans were prepared for a lecture from Russia’s longtime foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, who is well known for his tedious harangues.—
Michael Crowley,
New York Times,
21 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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The prose is confiding and, in places, pontifical.—
Judith Thurman,
The New Yorker,
24 Aug. 2020
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That revelation, coupled with other recent pontifical critiques, have quickly dissolved the notion that the Dec. 31 death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, a symbolic leader of the church’s conservative wing, might lessen the opposition to Francis.—
Stefano Pitrelli,
Washington Post,
18 Jan. 2023
Noun
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If there are programs which are really useful, which are not serving [the] goal of interference, the goal of destabilization, the goal of putting pressure on patriotic governments, then, of course, there will be time for revision, and the proper decisions can be made.—
Peter Aitken,
Newsweek,
22 Feb. 2025
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Some called it a blatant act of interference in the German elections, which were then about a week away.—
Simon Shuster/Berlin,
TIME,
22 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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According to Packer, several surefire ways to ensure success start here: Be arrogant!—
Dominique Fluker,
Essence,
17 Feb. 2025
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In 1254, King Edward I and Queen Eleanor of Castile were married at a very young age, and although Edward had a reputation for being arrogant and quarrelsome, the pair eventually fell deeply in love.—
Gulnaz Khan,
AFAR Media,
13 Feb. 2025
Noun
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As part of his teaching, the court heard that Westwood talked to one teenager, who was raped, about a masturbation scene from Bridgerton.—
Jake Kanter,
Deadline,
25 Feb. 2025
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Climbing out of the poverty of her upbringing, Frame studied to be a schoolteacher but was hospitalized in her early twenties, after a suicide attempt provoked by the anxiety of her teaching assessment.—
Audrey Wollen,
The New Yorker,
25 Feb. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Pontificating.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pontificating. Accessed 3 Mar. 2025.
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