ostent
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ostent¹
- /ˈɒstɛnt/ UK
- /ˈɑstɛnt/ US
Where it comes from
From Middle French ostenter (“to make an ostentatious display of”), or directly from its etymon Latin ostentāre (“to exhibit, present, show; to show off”), frequentative of ostendere (“to exhibit, show”), from ob- (prefix meaning ‘against; towards’) + tendere (“to extend, stretch; to distend”) (from Proto-Indo-European *tend- (“to extend, stretch”)). Doublet of ostentate.
verb ostents · ostenting · ostented
-
To make an ambitious display of; to exhibit or show boastingly; to ostentate.
Similar: demonstrate, display, ostentate, manifest, exhibitionize, preen, strut, aura farm, boulevardier, cut a wide swath, cut it fat, cut round
ostent²
- /ɒˈstɛnt/ UK
- /ɑˈstɛnt/ US
- /ə-/ US
Where it comes from
From Latin ostentus (“a display, exhibition, show”), from ostendere (“to exhibit, show”); see further at etymology 1.
noun ostents
- A display, an exhibition; an appearance, a manifestation. Vſe all the obſeruance of ciuility, / Like one well ſtudied in a ſad oſtent / To pleaſe his Grandam, neuer truſt me more.
- A boastful, ostentatious display or exhibition.
ostent³
- /ˈɒstɛnt/ UK
- /ˈɑstɛnt/ US
Where it comes from
From Middle French ostente (“amazing or marvellous thing; prodigy, wonder”) or directly from its etymon Latin ostentum (“portent”), from ostendere (“to exhibit, show”); see further at etymology 1.
The plural form ostenta is from Latin ostenta.
noun ostents · ostenta
- A portent, a token. We ask'd of God that some ostent might clear / Our cloudy business, who gave us sign.
ostent⁴
Where it comes from
Perhaps from Latin ostentum.
noun ostents
- One sixtieth of an hour: a minute (60 seconds). […] one would be inclined to suspect some confusion in Bede's information, seeing that 40 moments and 60 ostents both are equal to an hour. I cannot find an example of the use of ostentum as a measure of time before Bede, and it is first used as one-sixtieth of an hour in 978 A.D. by Alcuin, who kno
Talk about this word "ostent." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/ostent. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. ostent. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/ostent "ostent." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/ostent.Cite this
@misc{ostent_2026,
title = {ostent},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/ostent},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
