high-flown

1. 1.

   pretentious (especially with regard to language or ideals)

   “high-flown talk of preserving the moral tone of the school”

   “a high-sounding dissertation on the means to attain social revolution”

   Synonymshigh-soundinginflated

   Similarpretentious

   colloquialism

2. 2.

   of high moral or intellectual value; elevated in nature or style

   “an exalted ideal”

   “argue in terms of high-flown ideals”

   “a noble and lofty concept”

   “a grand purpose”

   Synonymsexaltedelevatedsublimegrandhigh-mindedloftyrarefiedrarifiedidealisticnoble-minded

   Similarnoble

Questions about high-flown

What does high-flown mean?

high-flown means "pretentious (especially with regard to language or ideals)". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in high-flown?

high-flown has 2 syllables: high--flown. The stress falls on "high-".

What is another word for high-flown?

Close synonyms include high-sounding, inflated, exalted, elevated, sublime. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is high-flown a common word?

high-flown is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.