What’s the word for someone who uses obscure words, phrases, or facts to appear smarter than they are? Someone who rambles on about a subject since they know the people they’re talking to aren’t familiar with it and therefore can’t disprove them? We’ve been having a debate with a friend who can’t admit he’s wrong and is resorting to biblical references and twisting reality to make it appear that he’s right.
(And yes, I realize there’s a little bit of irony in my asking for the word just so I can use it.)
ob·fus·cate
To make so confused or opaque as to be difficult to perceive or understand
To render indistinct or dim; darken: The fog obfuscated the shore.
pon·tif·i·cate
To express opinions or judgments in a dogmatic way.
verbosity
The quality or state of being verbose; the use of more words than are necessary; prolixity; wordiness; verbiage.
I’ll second Roadfood with sesquipedalian, which my dictionary (not an online one, unfortunately) defines as “1: given to using long words, 2: (of a word) containing many syllables”
Ok, I just found a link at Mirriam-Webster’s online dictionary.
Sesquipedalianism is a tendency to use long words ( the irony) but applies equally to someone who knows what they mean and uses them correctly, so I don’t think it’s the best word for what you want.
