to pontificate
- verb
- /pɒnˈtɪfɪkeɪt/
- Instead of listening to others, she tends to pontificate on her views without considering other opinions.
So 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
Talk to people to persuade them to support a cause
To give advice about right and wrong for a long time in a boring way
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
- Formal
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.