lexiphanicism.
The use of pretentious words or language.
Meaning & usage
The use of pretentious words or language.
The student's lexiphanicism is an obvious attempt to appear smart but really only serves to make him look pompous.
Where this word comes from
From lexiphanic + -ism, from Lexiphanes (“a character in the works of Lucian”) + -ic.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.