ENGLISH
REFERENCE

boast

v.
C1 Advanced Oxford US //ˈboʊst// UK //bˈəʊst// boast Archaic

v. to talk with too much pride about something you have or have done. It can also mean that a place or thing has a great feature that people admire.

v. to speak with excessive pride or self-satisfaction about one's achievements, possessions, or abilities; alternatively, to possess a feature that is a source of pride. Often takes 'of' or 'about' when referring to speech, or a direct object when describing a feature.


SIMPLE

He likes to boast about how much money he earns.

CONTEXTUAL

The historic hotel boasts a rooftop garden with panoramic views of the entire city skyline.

COMPLEX

While the company's founders frequently boast of their humble beginnings, the current corporate culture reflects a much more aggressive and affluent reality.

Synonyms
Origin

From Middle English bosten, from bost (“boast, glory, noise, arrogance, presumption, pride, vanity”), probably of North Germanic origin, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *bausuz (“inflated, swollen, puffed up, proud, arrogant, bad”). Cognate with Scots bost, boist (“to threaten, brag, boast”), Anglo-Norman bost (“ostentation”) (from Germanic). Related to Norwegian baus (“proud, bold, daring”), dialectal German baustern (“to swell”), German böse (“evil, bad, angry”), Dutch boos (“evil, wicked, angry”), West Frisian boas (“bad, wicked, angry, shrewd, clever”). Compare also dialectal Norwegian bausta, busta (“to rush onward, make a noise”). Possible doublet of boost. Compare typologically puffy, Russian напы́щенный (napýščennyj), наду́тый (nadútyj).

Usage

When used to mean 'possess', the verb is transitive; when used to mean 'brag', it is often intransitive and takes 'of' or 'about'.

Pitfall

she boasts for her successshe boasts about her successBoast takes the prepositions 'about' or 'of', not 'for'.

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