bump·tious

[buhmp-shuhs]
adjective
offensively self-assertive: a bumptious young upstart.

Origin:
1795–1805; bump + (frac)tious

bump·tious·ly, adverb
bump·tious·ness, noun
o·ver·bump·tious, adjective
o·ver·bump·tious·ly, adverb
o·ver·bump·tious·ness, noun
un·bump·tious, adjective
un·bump·tious·ly, adverb
un·bump·tious·ness, noun


pushy, forward, cocky, cheeky, brash.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source Link To bumptious
Collins
World English Dictionary
bumptious (ˈbʌmpʃəs) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
adj
offensively self-assertive or conceited
 
[C19: perhaps a blend of bump + fractious]
 
'bumptiously
 
adv
 
'bumptiousness
 
n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
00:10
Bumptious is a GRE word you need to know.
So is desiccate. Does it mean:
to deny, dispute, or contradict; to speak or act against; oppose
to become thoroughly dried or dried up.
Etymonline
Word Origin & History

bumptious
"assertive," 1803, probably a humorous coinage on the pattern of fractious, etc.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
Example sentences
It was a bumptious backwoods town filled with rough, unfashionable people with an open sewer wending its way through town.
Though he shows his age, he exudes a kind of bumptious charm.
Kiley, usually a fine actor, makes a curiously bumptious and churlish visitor
  indeed.
Because this is a state with a bumptious citizenry that loves a rowdy political
  year.
Related Words
Copyright © 2013 Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.
  • Please Login or Sign Up to use the Recent Searches feature
FAVORITES
RECENT