1 bumptious | Definition of bumptious

bumptious

adjective
bump·​tious | \ ˈbəm(p)-shəs How to pronounce bumptious (audio) \

Definition of bumptious

: presumptuously, obtusely, and often noisily self-assertive : obtrusive

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Other Words from bumptious

bumptiously adverb
bumptiousness noun

How Should You Use bumptious?

Etymologists believe that bumptious was probably coined, perhaps playfully, from the noun bump plus -tious. (Think of the obtrusive way an overly assertive person might "bump" through a crowd.) When bumptious was first used around 1800, it meant "conceited." Charles Dickens used it that way in David Copperfield: "His hair was very smooth and wavy; but I was informed … that it was a wig … and that he needn't be so 'bounceable'—somebody else said 'bumptious'—about it, because his own red hair was very plainly to be seen behind."

Examples of bumptious in a Sentence

a bumptious young man whose family wealth gave him a sense of entitlement

Recent Examples on the Web

The brief, bumptious chapters cover roughly a year, and the lead player doesn't come of age so much as rip away childhood's masks. — John Domini, Dallas News, "An Italian teenager meets the family she didn't know existed in 'A Girl Returned'," 1 July 2019 The brief, bumptious chapters cover roughly a year, and the lead player doesn’t come of age so much as rip away childhood’s masks. — John Domini, Washington Post, "A teenager meets the family she didn’t know existed in ‘A Girl Returned’," 13 June 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'bumptious.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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First Known Use of bumptious

1801, in the meaning defined above

History and Etymology for bumptious

bump entry 1 + -tious (as in fractious)

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More Definitions for bumptious

bumptious

adjective

English Language Learners Definition of bumptious

disapproving : proud or confident in a loud and rude way that annoys other people

More from Merriam-Webster on bumptious

Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for bumptious

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