What does fastuous mean?
Fastuous is an adjective describing someone—or something—pompously arrogant, haughty, or affectedly grand. A fastuous person carries themselves with exaggerated dignity and condescension; a fastuous speech or piece of writing is inflated, ceremonious, and pretentiously formal. The word derives ultimately from the Latin fastus, meaning pride or arrogance, and entered English in the early seventeenth century by way of French. It is a rare, literary term, found chiefly in satire, criticism, and elevated prose rather than casual speech, and its connotation is always disapproving. To call a colleague's address fastuous is to accuse it of strutting. The word earns its keep precisely because it is uncommon: it delivers a pointed, polished rebuke of vanity without resorting to blunt insults. Readers who encounter it should note its kinship in spirit with words like pompous and pretentious, while taking care not to confuse it with fastidious, which describes careful attention to detail rather than swaggering self-regard.
adjectivePompously arrogant or haughty; affectedly grand, dignified, or pretentious in manner or style.
- Characterized by arrogance, pomposity, or haughty self-importance in manner or bearing.
- (Of style or behavior) affectedly grand or ceremonious; marked by ostentatious dignity.
"The ambassador's fastuous speech left the delegates unmoved and slightly embarrassed."
"He dismissed the committee's questions with a fastuous wave of his hand."
"The novel's fastuous prose, dense with borrowed Latinisms, satirized the very elite it imitated."
Born from the Latin word for 'haughty pride,' fastuous has been quietly skewering the pompous for centuries — and almost nobody uses it.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of fastuous
Fastuous comes from the Latin adjective fastuosus, derived from fastus, which denoted haughtiness, arrogance, or disdainful pride. The word passed into English in the early seventeenth century through French fastueux, retaining its pejorative sense of insolent grandeur. Its Latin root connects it conceptually to the vocabulary of pride and superciliousness in classical rhetoric.
Related word forms
How fastuous is actually used
A rare and distinctly formal word, almost always negative in connotation and typically used to criticize the behavior, speech, or writing of the self-important. It appears far more often in literary criticism and satire than in everyday conversation.
Easily confused with fastuous
Fastidious means attentively concerned with cleanliness, detail, or accuracy, whereas fastuous means arrogantly showy or pompous.