Literary notes about Magniloquent (AI summary)
In literature, "magniloquent" is often employed to describe language that is extravagantly grand or pompously lofty. Writers use it both to celebrate a florid, elevated style and to critique language that feels overblown or bombastic. Some authors use the term with admiration, highlighting characters whose rhetoric or actions possess a heroic, almost mythic quality ([1], [2]), while others deploy it in a more satirical vein to underscore a tendency for excessive embellishment in speech or narrative ([3], [4]). This dual use—both as a marker of refined, lofty expression and as a subtle criticism of rhetorical excess—demonstrates the word’s versatility in capturing the nuances of literary style ([5], [6]).
- Magnificent, magniloquent, turbulent, it is starred with glowing phrases as thickly as with glowing deeds.
— from A History of the Four Georges and of William IV, Volume III by Justin H. (Justin Huntly) McCarthy - He is a marvellous figure as Shakespeare has projected him, stammering, absent, turbulent, witty, now simple, now magniloquent.
— from William Shakespeare: A Critical Study by Georg Brandes - He could get into the most surprising ecstasies about everything, and give utterance to the same in the most magniloquent words.
— from The Serapion Brethren, Vol. II by E. T. A. (Ernst Theodor Amadeus) Hoffmann - bombastic , a. magniloquent, grandiose , high-sounding, turgid, inflated , grandiloquent.
— from Putnam's Word Book A Practical Aid in Expressing Ideas Through the Use of an Exact and Varied Vocabulary by Louis A. (Louis Andrew) Flemming - Then in magniloquent terms he discoursed about the meanness of making such a base concession.
— from Letters of John Calvin, Volume I Compiled from the Original Manuscripts and Edited with Historical Notes by Jean Calvin - “Then, honestly, I never heard so much magniloquent unwisdom talked in the same space of time.
— from Phaethon: Loose Thoughts for Loose Thinkers by Charles Kingsley
