grandiose

English

Etymology

From French grandiose, from Italian grandioso, from Latin grandis (“great, grand”) (English grand). Possibly from grand +‎ -ose, though to be debated. Doublet of grandioso.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡɹæn.diˈəʊs/, /ˈɡɹæn.di.əʊs/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊs

Adjective

grandiose (comparative more grandiose, superlative most grandiose)

1. Large and impressive, in size, scope or extent.
   • 2019 March 6, Nalini Mohabir, “Renaming the Cook Islands would be a vital step towards true independence”, in The Guardian‎:

     Independence does not need to be a grandiose process of disconnection and severing ties.

2. Pompous or pretentious.
   • 2021 December 29, Stephen Roberts, “Stories and facts behind railway plaques: Didcot (1932)”, in RAIL, number 947, page 60:

     There is a station here, of course, opened as Didcot in June 1844 and renamed as the more grandiose-sounding Didcot Parkway in July 1985.

Derived terms

• blandiose
• grandiosely
• grandioseness
• ungrandiose

Related terms

• grand
• grandeur
• grandiosity
• grandioso

Translations

large and impressive, in size, scope or extent

Bulgarian: грандиозен (bg) (grandiozen), внушителен (bg) (vnušitelen) Catalan: grandiós Danish: grandios, storslået (da), svulstig, storladen, opsigtsvækkende, flot Finnish: mahtava (fi) French: grandiose (fr) Greek: επιβλητικός (el) (epivlitikós) Hungarian: grandiózus (hu) Italian: grandioso (it) Norwegian: Bokmål: grandios, herskapelig (no), storslagen (no) Nynorsk: grandios Portuguese: grandioso (pt) Russian: грандио́зный (ru) (grandióznyj) Spanish: grandioso (es) Swedish: grandios (sv), storslagen (sv), storartad (sv) Yiddish: גראַנדיעז (grandyez)

pompous or pretentious

Bulgarian: помпозен (bg) (pompozen), претенциозен (bg) (pretenciozen) Catalan: grandiós Finnish: mahtaileva (fi) French: pompeux (fr), prétentieux (fr) Hungarian: grandiózus (hu) Italian: grandioso (it) Portuguese: pomposo (pt) Russian: помпе́зный (ru) (pompéznyj) Spanish: grandioso (es)

Further reading

• “grandiose”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “grandiose”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “grandiose”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• angroside, diagnoser, dragonise, organdies, organised

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian grandioso.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡʁɑ̃.djoz/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophone: grandioses
• Rhymes: -oz

Adjective

grandiose (plural grandioses)

1. grandiose

Related terms

• grand

Further reading

• “grandiose”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

German

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

grandiose

1. inflection of grandios:
   1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative/accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

Italian

Adjective

grandiose f pl

1. feminine plural of grandioso

Norwegian Bokmål

Adjective

grandiose

1. definite singular/plural of grandios

Norwegian Nynorsk

Adjective

grandiose

1. definite singular/plural of grandios