| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| boast1 |
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| PRONUNCIATION: |  b st |
| VERB: | Inflected forms: boast·ed, boast·ing, boasts
| | INTRANSITIVE VERB: | To glorify oneself in speech; talk in a self-admiring way. | | TRANSITIVE VERB: | 1. To speak of with excessive pride. 2. To possess or own (a desirable feature): “[the] capital of a region in the southeast that boasts bountiful coal fields” (US Air). 3. To contain; have. | | NOUN: | 1. The act or an instance of bragging. 2. A source of pride. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English bosten, from bost, a brag. | | OTHER FORMS: | boast er —NOUN
boastful —ADJECTIVE
boastful·ly —ADVERB
boastful·ness —NOUN
| | SYNONYMS: | boast1, brag, crow2, vaunt These verbs all mean to speak with pride, often excessive pride, about oneself or something related to oneself. Boast is the most general: “We confide [that is, have confidence] in our strength, without boasting of it; we respect that of others, without fearing it” (Thomas Jefferson). Brag implies exaggerated claims and often an air of insolent superiority: He bragged about his grades. Crow stresses exultation and often loud rejoicing: No candidate should crow until the votes have been counted. Vaunt suggests ostentatiousness and lofty extravagance of expression: “He did not vaunt of his new dignity, but I understood he was highly pleased with it” (James Boswell). | | USAGE NOTE: | Some have objected to the use of boast as a transitive verb meaning “to possess or own (a desirable feature),” as in This network boasts an audience with a greater concentration of professionals and managers than any other broadcast vehicle. This usage is by now well established, however, and is acceptable to 62 percent of the Usage Panel.
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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