brag 1 of 3

brag

2 of 3

noun

brag

3 of 3

verb

Synonym Chooser

How is the word brag distinct from other similar verbs?

Some common synonyms of brag are boast, crow, and vaunt. While all these words mean "to express pride in oneself or one's accomplishments," brag suggests crudity and artlessness in glorifying oneself.

bragging of their exploits

When is boast a more appropriate choice than brag?

Although the words boast and brag have much in common, boast often suggests ostentation and exaggeration, but it may imply a claiming with proper and justifiable pride.

boasts of every trivial success
the town boasts one of the best museums in the area

When would crow be a good substitute for brag?

In some situations, the words crow and brag are roughly equivalent. However, crow usually implies exultant boasting or bragging.

crowed after winning the championship

How is vaunt related to other words for brag?

Vaunt usually connotes more pomp and bombast than boast and less crudity or naïveté than brag.

vaunted his country's military might

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of brag
Adjective
This will also give you a brag bank to pull from when the interviewer asks you to articulate your strengths. Dominique Law, Forbes, 10 Nov. 2021 The Wild Insulated Water Bottle Allow us to humble-brag about The Wild water bottle with the cool logo of the L.A. Times newsletter about the outdoors in Southern California. Los Angeles Times, 4 Nov. 2021
Noun
Enter LinkedIn, the brag board of choice for the white-collar worker. Zach Przystup, Baltimore Sun, 1 Jan. 2024 Freeze explained his decision with a tremendous humble brag. Kevin Scarbinsky | , al, 20 July 2023
Verb
Within minutes of leaving the Capitol building on January 6, Vo used text messages and social media to brag about intimidating police officers, halting the vote count, and storming the building. CBS News, 10 Jan. 2025 With the calendar approaching Inauguration Day, Biden administration officials are doing what other administration officials have done countless times throughout history—bragging about their accomplishments. Paul Du Quenoy, Newsweek, 9 Jan. 2025 See all Example Sentences for brag 
Recent Examples of Synonyms for brag
Adjective
  • The melty cheese and crispy bread are a wonderful combination.
    Nick Siano, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 27 Jan. 2025
  • Away from the bottle-poppers of Mykonos, but hardly removed from the season’s social buzz, the white-washed, flat-roofed villas that wrap the cliffs of Santorini are wonderful places to while away a summer.
    Christopher Cameron, Robb Report, 27 Jan. 2025
Noun
  • The rhetoric echoed his previous justification for the pullout: that the agreement imposed unfair economic burdens on the U.S. while allowing other countries, like China, to continue polluting.
    Nik Popli, TIME, 22 Jan. 2025
  • Fourteen years after their initial passage, the record is clear: contrary to the rhetoric, New York’s sanctuary laws have proven to be potent crime fighting tools.
    Peter L. Markowitz, New York Daily News, 22 Jan. 2025
Verb
  • His Facebook page, which boasts 27 friends, is mostly related to his time in the Army, with photos and videos of guns and what appears to be him in training.
    David Faris, Newsweek, 18 Jan. 2025
  • Resume: The Broncos recorded an NFL-best 63 sacks this season while boasting a top-three run defense and a top-three red-zone defense.
    Dan Wiederer, Chicago Tribune, 18 Jan. 2025
Adjective
  • He’s been awesome this season and will be impossible to replace.
    Dom Luszczyszyn, The Athletic, 17 Jan. 2025
  • The waist still stays in place, and the bra is still awesome.
    Dana Leigh Smith, Glamour, 16 Jan. 2025
Noun
  • Social media is Trump’s territory, and its norms—insults without consequence, braggadocio, and flame wars—line up neatly with his way of doing politics.
    Jay Caspian Kang, The New Yorker, 16 Jan. 2025
  • The braggadocio, the charisma and the grit underneath it all is what the city remembered of Henderson, who died at 65, days shy of his birthday on Christmas.
    Rick Hurd, The Mercury News, 21 Dec. 2024
Noun
  • He’s swept away in a sea of raves MILAN — Giorgio Armani is not a very good braggart.
    Tonya Blazio-Licorish, WWD, 17 Oct. 2024
  • Researchers also studied real-life workplace braggarts and found their colleagues often perceived them negatively.
    Megan Cerullo, CBS News, 28 May 2024
Adjective
  • Every great city prides its ability to rebound after ruin.
    Shawn Hubler, New York Times, 20 Jan. 2025
  • But what makes the coffee shop experience important to us as individuals and a society is something greater than the sum of its parts.
    David G. Allan, CNN, 20 Jan. 2025
Noun
  • Using Cell Phones with Reckless Abandon While the ballpark is filled with cheers and chatter, nobody wants to be seated next to the person who’s loudly carrying on a phone conversation in the middle of it—or have to dodge the hundredth selfie snapped by the person in front of them.
    Betsy Cribb Watson, Southern Living, 18 Jan. 2025
  • The compressed size of the court and the smaller arena mean players — and fans — will be able to hear much more on-court chatter.
    Remy Tumin, New York Times, 17 Jan. 2025

Thesaurus Entries Near brag

Cite this Entry

“Brag.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/brag. Accessed 30 Jan. 2025.

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