ostentatious

showing one's wealth or power

TRANSLATION

ostentatious = sich auffällig bzw. großtuerisch benehmen --- GOOGLE INDEX ostentatious: approximately 1,000,000 Google hits

STATISTICS

IN THE PRESS

A 2004 law in France banned head scarves and other "OSTENTATIOUS" religious symbols in public schools.

(Associated Press)

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Wealthy Germans are responding skeptically to this effort, with one German asset manager contacted by Gates saying that many of the country's super-rich have already transferred more than half of their wealth to charity and consider the "Giving Pledge" campaign too OSTENTATIOUS.

(USA Today)

Did you
know?

ostentatious
adjective

- too obviously showing your money, possessions or power, in an attempt to make other people notice and admire you

(Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)

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People and things described as ostentatious seem to have put themselves on display; they are practically begging to be looked at. The word is not a compliment.

Ostentatious is often applied to buildings that can also be described as luxurious—mansions, fancy high-rises, huge houses with marble columns. Sometimes the description appears in the negative, as when we're told that a house is large, but not ostentatious, which means that it's large but not in a way that calls attention to itself. When the word is applied to objects like clothes and jewelry, the idea is the same: such items attract attention for the luxury they imply.

People who are described as ostentatious, or who have lifestyles described as such—typically are seen as spending money in a way that makes it clear that they have a lot of it.

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SYNONYMS

boastful, conspicuous, extravagant, flashy, showy, vain

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SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation

"ostentatious behaviour is seldom appreciated"

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