Expressing yourself with grandiloquence implies doing so with pretensions and pomposity.
The first step we are going to take before fully entering into the meaning of the term grandiloquent is to know its etymological origin. In this case, it must be stated that it comes from Latin and is the result of the sum of two lexical components of said language:
-The adjective «grandis», which can be translated as «huge».
-The verb "loqui", which is synonymous with "speak".
-The suffix "-ence", which is used to indicate "quality of an agent."
Grandiloquent concept
The adjective grandiloquent is used to describe someone who expresses himself grandiloquently : that is, with pomposity and arrogance.
The concept can also be used with reference to that which is ostentatious, pedantic, exaggerated or affected . For example: "The mayor, always grandiloquent, gave a three-hour speech where he criticized the opposition and his predecessor" , "My grandfather taught me by example, without grandiloquent words" , "The actor celebrated his birthday with a grandiloquent party .
In addition to those already exposed, we cannot ignore another series of synonyms for the word grandiloquent such as bombastic, bombastic , rhetorical, sententious or even high-sounding. On the contrary, among its antonyms we find terms such as plain, simple or simple, for example.
Many restaurants resort to bombast on the menu.
Exaggerated or pretentious expressions
Grandiloquent expressions aim to give greater importance to the things they communicate. This relevance is not based on reality or concrete facts, but on the words chosen to magnify the magnitude .
Restaurant menus are often grandiose. In this way, they present simple and well-known dishes as sophisticated and innovative preparations, charging a high price for them. If a "grilled steak with lettuce and tomato salad" is named "piece of grilled beef on a mattress of green leaves and garden tomatoes" , it can be said that the name of the dish is grandiose.
Politicians also tend to be bombastic. Suppose that a country's economy registers an annual growth of 0.8% . If the president, faced with this indicator, affirms that "this achievement demonstrates that the nation is advancing at full speed with a firm and unstoppable step toward a future of prosperity for each of its inhabitants," it can be argued that the president is being grandiloquent.
Grandiloquence in art
Within the field of literature, for example, we can indicate that what was carried out during the so-called Spanish Golden Age is considered to be characterized precisely by being grandiose. And the works used many resources such as metaphors, they relied on the "ornamentation" of the texts, they resorted a lot to the use of adjectives...
Since then, many authors have opted to be grandiloquent in their work, while others have opted for simplicity and minimalism. This would be the case, for example, of the famous Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges (1899 – 1986).
And precisely that grandiloquence can also be found in artistic works, such as examples of architecture or sculpture, from the period known as Baroque .