to pontificate
13
8.7
- verb
- /pɒnˈtɪfɪkeɪt/
- Instead of listening to others, she tends to pontificate on her views without considering other opinions.
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Watch on YouTubeSo much talking, so much pontificating and sharing perspectives all over the place.
- So much talking, so much pontificating and sharing perspectives all over the place.
- I need to be in that stream of action, action man, not talking, not pontificating.
- You can watch me pontificate these thoughts on a daily basis for free across all these platforms.
- Everybody sit, you know, people love to ideate or pontificate, but they don't do.
- So we talk about it and we, you know, pontificate what can be done.
- And so for me what that all all that pontificating leads to the following.
- Yet as Kim Kim will attest to our job is to educate, not to not to pontificate.
- You know, I can at least sit here and pontificate about that, examine it and go, oh, yeah, that's that thing that you do that's cute.
- One could even pontificate and wonder here, do they want to keep the general public dumb or is that just a lucky offshoot?
- Skolnick and I blather and pontificate on matters that sounds both pertinent and possibly irrelevant, depending upon, depending on your mindset, I guess.
Examples
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If you indulge me for a second, allow me to pontificate.
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We, as Americans, cannot pontificate and say that we were 'different' from the Japanese or the Germans.
Blog text (23) -
So we talk about it and we, you know, pontificate what can be done.
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Let me pontificate upon your sorry state
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Most of us have read or heard writers pontificate about how the author should know everything about his characters.
Academic text (2011) -
Let me dwell on this for some time and pontificate on a few things.
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I mean, men, they pontificate and no one can get a word in edgewise.
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Again, you do not understand fundamental economics well enough to be pontificating on the subject.
Blog text (14) -
I was in the kitchen and I heard a voice pontificating about predatory lending and how we have to put an end to it.
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During the preceding week, politicians pontificated about it, celebrities sang about it, and pundits pondered its significance.
Academic text (1990)
Synonyms
192
3.8
Talk to people to persuade them to support a cause
2
8.0
To give advice about right and wrong for a long time in a boring way
1
8.6
To speak in a long, moral way that makes people feel judged
To say your opinion is definitely right and not listen to other views
Speak for a long time in a strong way about your opinions to others
To express your personal views about a subject
Antonyms
How Pompous
13
8.7
192
3.8
- Formal
148
3.5
229
3.9
∞
1.6
∞
1.0
Surface Forms
Etymology
A helpful way to remember pontificate in the sense 'to speak in a pompous or dogmatic way' is to think of a pope speaking with great authority. Because popes and high priests spoke in a very formal, solemn way, to pontificate came to mean talking as if you are always right.