ostentatious

Etymology

It is formed from English ostentation + -ious,^[2][3][4] after pairs such as contention and contentious.^[4] The OED analyses it instead as a past-participial stem from Latin with the suffix, modelled on the noun.^[5] The noun is from Middle French ostentation,^[5] Old French ostentacion in Etymonline,^[6] and directly from Latin ostentātiō (“showing, display”),^[5][6] from ostentō (“to display”),^[5][6] a frequentative of ostendō (“to show”),^[6] from ob (“in front of”) and tendō (“to stretch”),^[6] from Proto-Indo-European *ten- (“to stretch”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of actions or qualities: displayed so as to attract attention or admiration: 1590, in W. Segar's Book of Honor and Arms.^[5][4] Dictionary.com gives 1650–60,^[3] and Etymonline, which finds the word only in 1701, lists the earlier adjectives ostentive (1590s), ostentative (about 1600) and ostentous (1620s).^[6]

Semantic evolution

The word first described actions and qualities, then from 1658 people given to display.^[5] Johnson (1755) defines it as boastful, vain and fond of show.^[7] From 1713, in Steele's Guardian, it was applied to things: at first simply conspicuous, a sense the Shorter Oxford marks as lost by the late 19th century,^[5][2] and then showy, gaudy or pretentiously expensive, the current sense.^[5][6][8]

Timeline

• 1590 – of actions and qualities, displayed to attract admiration.^[5][4] Etymonline dates this use to 1701.^[6]
• 1658 – of a person, given to display.^[5]
• mid 17th century – the noun ostentatiousness.^[2][6]
• 1713 – of a thing, conspicuous, later showy or gaudy.^[5][6]
• early 18th century – the adverb ostentatiously.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Marked by pretentious or showy display meant to impress: an ostentatious show of jewellery.^[8][4][5]
2. Of a person, fond of drawing attention or admiration.^[5][4]

Word family

• ostentatiously
• ostentatiousness
• unostentatious

Related words

• ostensible
• ostensive
• ostentation
• ostentate
• ostend
• tend

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins