Boast

How to spell boast

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce boast

What does boast mean?

1. verbTo talk with excessive pride and self-satisfaction about one's achievements or possessions.
2. verbTo possess a feature that is a source of pride or admiration.
3. nounA statement made with excessive pride about oneself or one's achievements.

Boast in a sentence

• verb

  He likes to boast about his salary at every dinner party.

• verb

  The hotel can boast a rooftop pool and two restaurants.

• noun

  His constant boast about the new car wore thin quickly.

• verb

  She never fails to boast about her children's exam results.

• verb

  Few small towns boast a railway station and an airport.

• noun

  That empty boast collapsed once the figures were checked.

Where does boast come from?

Language of origin: Unknown

This word first appears in English in the 1200s as the Middle English noun 'bost', meaning a loud, threatening, or proud utterance, with a matching verb soon after. Its ultimate origin is genuinely uncertain, and scholars have never settled it; one suggestion connects it to Anglo-Norman and Old French forms, while another looks to a Germanic source related to swelling or puffing up, which fits the idea of self-inflation neatly. The earliest sense leaned toward menace and bluster as much as pride, so a medieval boast could be a threat as easily as a brag. Over the centuries the threatening edge faded and the word settled into its modern meanings of bragging about oneself and, more neutrally, possessing something impressive. The spelling has carried the 'oa' vowel for a long time, which is the only real point to watch, since the word otherwise sounds exactly as it looks. Because its precise beginnings remain debated, dictionaries still mark its origin as unknown.

How the word is built

• boast (single Middle English root meaning a proud or threatening utterance; no separable prefix or suffix)