boast

CEFRC1

/bəʊst/

verb · noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To talk proudly about something you have done or own.

  2. 02

    verb

    Extra detail

    A shot where the ball is driven off a side wall and then strikes the front wall.

Examples

  • London air was not much to boast of at best.

  • I have nothing to boast about.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
3

Also pronounced

  • /boʊst/

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. Something that one brags about.

  2. To brag; to talk loudly in praise of oneself.

noun

Extra meaning

  1. A brag; ostentatious positive appraisal of oneself.

More examples

In context

  • It was his regular boast that he could eat two full English breakfasts in one sitting.

  • The hotel boasts one of the best views of the sea.

  • His family boasted a famous name.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

After winning the award, she could not resist a chance to blank about her success.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

From Middle English bosten, from bost (“boast, glory, noise, arrogance, presumption, pride, vanity”), probably of North Germanic origin, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *bausuz (“inflated, swollen, puffed up, proud, arrogant, bad”). Cognate with Scots bost, boist (“to threaten, brag, boast”), Anglo-Norman bost (“ostentation”) (from Germanic). Related to Norwegian baus (“proud, bold, daring”), dialectal German baustern (“to swell”), German böse (“evil, bad, angry”), Dutch boos (“evil, wicked, angry”), West Frisian boas (“bad, wicked, angry, shrewd, clever”). Compare also dialectal Norwegian bausta, busta (“to rush onward, make a noise”). Possible doublet of boost. Compare typologically puffy,...