braggadocio

<font size="-1" face="arial, helvetica"> <p> <strong> <font color="#000066">Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 18, 2020 is:</font> </strong> </p> <p> <strong>braggadocio</strong> &#149; \brag-uh-DOH-see-oh\&nbsp; &#149; <em>noun</em><br /> <p><strong>1 a :</strong> empty boasting</p> <p><strong>b :</strong> arrogant pretension <strong>:</strong> <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cockiness">cockiness</a></p> <p><strong>2 :</strong> a person given to arrogant boasting <strong>:</strong> <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/braggart">braggart</a></p> </p> <p> <strong>Examples:</strong><br /> <p>"The musical numbers, all penned by Miranda, slide easily from the <em>braggadocio</em> of '90s rap to the lilt of Harlem jazz and beyond. Miraculously, nothing sounds excessively show-tuney." — <a href="https://time.com/5862052/hamilton-disney-plus-review/">Stephanie Zacharek, <em>Time</em>, 30 June 2020</a></p> <p>"It's the first time in his life that Jack has hit anyone, but there are a lot of intangibles behind it (all those fake fights and phantom punches thrown, all that idle <em>braggadocio</em> from stunt men between takes), and with a beginner's luck it lands just right on the side of Petty's face…." — <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=hIrtinNrRtEC&amp;pg=PA220#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false">Daniel Pyne, <em>Twentynine Palms</em>, 2010</a></p> </p> <p> <strong>Did you know?</strong><br /> <p>Though Braggadocio is not as well-known as other fictional characters like Pollyanna, the Grinch, or Scrooge, in lexicography he holds a special place next to them as one of the many characters whose name has become an established word in English. The English poet Edmund Spenser originally created Braggadocio as a personification of boasting in his epic poem <em>The Faerie Queene</em>. As early as 1594, about four years after the poem was published, English speakers began using the name as a general term for any blust