OSTENTATIOUS

PRONUNCIATION: (os-tuhn-TAY-shuss)

MEANING: adjective: Pretentious or vulgar display in an attempt to impress others.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin ostentare (to display), frequentative of ostendere (to show), from ob- (against) + tendere (to stretch). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ten- (to stretch), which is also the source of tense, tenet, tendon, tent, tenor, tender, pretend, extend, tenure, tetanus, hypotenuse, tenable, extenuate, countenance, tenuous, distend, pertinacious, and detente. Earliest documented use: 1590.
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OUSTENTATIOUS - making a great spectacle of overthrowing the King

OFTENTATIOUS - frequently flamboyant

OSTEOTATIOUS - spectacularly bony