Library / English Dictionary

BOAST

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Speaking of yourself in superlatives

Synonyms:

boast; boasting; jactitation; self-praise

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("boast" is a kind of...):

speech act (the use of language to perform some act)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "boast"):

brag; bragging; crow; crowing; gasconade; line-shooting; vaporing (an instance of boastful talk)

bluster; braggadocio; rhodomontade; rodomontade (vain and empty boasting)

vaunt (extravagant self-praise)

self-assertion (the act of putting forth your own opinions in a boastful or inconsiderate manner that implies you feel superior to others)

Derivation:

boast (show off)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Show off

Synonyms:

blow; bluster; boast; brag; gas; gasconade; shoot a line; swash; tout; vaunt

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "boast" is one way to...):

amplify; exaggerate; hyperbolise; hyperbolize; magnify; overdraw; overstate (to enlarge beyond bounds or the truth)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "boast"):

puff (speak in a blustering or scornful manner)

crow; gloat; triumph (dwell on with satisfaction)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE
Somebody ----s to somebody

Derivation:

boast (speaking of yourself in superlatives)

boaster (a very boastful and talkative person)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Wear or display in an ostentatious or proud manner

Example:

she was sporting a new hat

Synonyms:

boast; feature; sport

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "boast" is one way to...):

feature; have (have as a feature)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Credits

 Context examples: 

He could boast also of the higher honour of having been the first born American to win laurels in the British ring.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I had nothing nearer my fancy than to get home to the stockade and boast of my achievements.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Now this king was very fond of money; and when he heard the miller’s boast his greediness was raised, and he sent for the girl to be brought before him.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Far from the pull of the Sun, the giant planets of the outer solar system are the dominant sources of gravity, and collectively, they boast dozens upon dozens of moons.

(NASA Finds Neptune Moons Locked in 'Dance of Avoidance', NASA)

Alas! Why does man boast of sensibilities superior to those apparent in the brute; it only renders them more necessary beings.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Ecclesford and its theatre, with its arrangements and dresses, rehearsals and jokes, was his never-failing subject, and to boast of the past his only consolation.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

"I am afraid it is but too true," said Marianne; "but why should you boast of it?"

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

She had never boasted either beauty or cleverness.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

The next moment, angry with himself for the boast, he had gripped the arms of the chair so savagely that every finger-end was stinging.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

This exoplanet system, which actually boasts three super-puffs orbiting a young Sun-like star, was discovered by NASA's Kepler space telescope in 2012.

('Cotton Candy' Planet Mysteries Unravel in New Hubble Observations, NASA)