You know the villain Gaston from Disney's Beauty and the Beast? He's the one who goes around boasting about himself. "As a specimen, yes, I'm intimidating." "Belle, it's about time you paid attention to more important things. Like me."

His name, "Gaston," which might just be French for "guest or stranger," might also mean more specifically "someone from Gascony," proverbially a place where folks are big braggarts. Which would be perfect, because Gaston is constantly gasconading. (Here I just thought his name was a play on words: someone who "gassed on" and on.)

I love that word, gasconading, for sounding exactly like what it means: a bunch of loudmouth boasting.

Delightfully, gasconade has several synonyms that sound equally ostentatious:

1. f_nf_r_n_de, meaning "talk or writing that boasts or brags, as if tooting on a horn;"

2. r_d_m_nt_de, meaning "bragging that's extremely exaggerated, like a character in Orlando Furioso who seems to say, 'I can move mountains;'"

and 3. br_gg_d_c__, meaning "loud, proud, empty boasting, like a character in The Faerie Queene."

Can you recall all three? And of the three, plus gasconade, do you have a favorite?

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)  

The word "gasconade" came into English from French in the 1600s. Gascons, or folks who lived in Gascony, a historical region in southwestern France, got a reputation for being loudmouth braggarts.

And English can't resist copying a cool French insult, so here we are!

Gasconade is talk that's loud and boastful, and to gasconade is to talk in a loud, boastful way.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Often a noun, both the countable kind and the uncountable kind: "She told the story with a bunch of exaggerations and gasconades;" "She told the story with exaggeration and gasconade."

Also a verb, both the transitive and intransitive kind: "She gasconaded us all through dinner;" "She gasconaded her achievements all through dinner;" "She gasconaded all through dinner."

Other forms: 

The plural noun is "gasconades."

And the other verb forms are "gasconaded" and "gasconading." 

If someone gasconades a lot, you can call them a "Gascon," a "gasconader," or, my personal favorite, a "gasconado."

how to use it:

Although the word "gasconade" is really rare in English, it's pretty easy to understand in context. Pick it when you want an ultra-fancy, over-the-top synonym of "boast," "brag," or "bombast."

You can use it as either a verb or a noun: "He gasconaded for an hour." "There she goes, gasconading again." "That whole article is nothing but gasconade." "I'm tired of their gasconades."

examples:

"For almost four decades, [Robert Van Pelt], 64, has been instrumental in finding, measuring and accurately illustrating many of the largest known trees... 'I found more champions than anyone in history, Van Pelt says without a hint of gasconading. He has found more than 90 trees recognized as national champions." 
—Elliott Almond, Seattle Times, 1 September 2023

"Heaven knows what an historian M. Dumas is! He has published Impressions de Voyages, containing every thing, drama, elegy, eclogue, idyl, politics, gastronomy, statistics, geography, history, wit—every thing excepting truth. Never did writer more intrepidly hoax his readers, never were readers more indulgent to an author's gasconades."
—Karl Gutzkow, Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 60, No. 372, 1846

has this page helped you understand "gasconade"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "gasconade" without saying "brag" or "bluster."

try it out:

Fill in the blanks: "(Someone) has (a certain kind of) (heart, mind, or other body part) and a gasconading mouth."

Example 1: "He's got thin skin and a gasconading mouth."

Example 2: "Poor Flinter! a braver heart and a more gasconading mouth were surely never united in the same body."
— George Borrow, The Bible in Spain, 1896

If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.)

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game this month is "Eddie Izzardisms!"

Consider a quote from Eddie Izzard's delightful stand-up comedy, and decide which of three given terms you can most easily connect it to. You can see my suggested answer by scrolling to the bottom of the issue. But yours doesn't need to match mine. 

Try this one today:

"Picasso, he should have been a taxidermist. 'I've done your dog. It's got nine eyes down the side, I made his head all square, 15 legs.'"

Chimerical, unequivocal, or canonical?

review this word:

1. The opposite of GASCONADE could be

A. MODESTY or HUMILITY.
B. FLEXIBILITY or PLASTICITY.
C. COMPLEXITY or MULTIPLICITY.

2. Annotating some White House tapes along with Lady Bird Johnson's diary, Michael Beschloss notes that after dinner one night, Lyndon B. Johnson "gasconaded into the night," prompting his wife Lady Bird to complain privately about _____.

A. his loud mouth
B. his filthy jokes
C. his lack of musical talent

Answers to the review questions: 1. A 2. A From the game, here's a suggested answer: I'd go with chimerical, because the dog is a whimsical combination of various parts.

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog: On vocabulary...       36 ways to study words.       Why we forget words, & how to remember them.       How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. On writing...       How to improve any sentence.       How to motivate our kids to write.       How to stop procrastinating and start writing.       How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count. From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.