Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 29, 2024 is: braggadocio \brag-uh-DOH-see-oh\ noun

Braggadocio refers to brash and self-confident boasting—that is, the annoying or exaggerated talk of someone who is trying to sound very proud or brave.

// His braggadocio hid the fact that he felt personally inadequate.

[See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/braggadocio)

Examples:

“In total, Lil Wayne has sold more than 120 million albums, making him one of the world's top-selling artists, and, his braggadocio aside, he's widely considered one of most influential hip-hop artists of his generation and one of the greatest rappers of all time.” — L. Kent Wolgamott, The Lincoln (Nebraska) Journal Star, 1 Feb. 2024

Did you know?

Though Braggadocio is not as well-known as other fictional characters like Pollyanna, the Grinch, or Scrooge, in lexicography he holds a special place next to them as one of the many characters whose name has become an established word in English. The English poet [Edmund Spenser](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Edmund-Spenser) originally created Braggadocio as a personification of boasting in his epic poem [The Faerie Queene](https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Faerie-Queene). As early as 1594, about four years after the poem was published, English speakers began using the name as a general term for any blustering blowhard. The now more common use of braggadocio, referring to the talk or behavior of such [windy](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/windy) [cockalorums](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cockalorums), developed in the early 18th century.