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• s  pretentious (especially with regard to language or ideals)
  high-flown talk of preserving the moral tone of the school
• s  of high moral or intellectual value; elevated in nature or style
  argue in terms of high-flown ideals"- Oliver Franks

• His sculptures seldom tell a story, never illustrate any high-flown saw or slogan.
• He was denounced as a betrayer of official secrets, a traitor to Woodrow Wilson, because he dared to criticize that President's high-flown peace plans.
• When Nehru celebrated India's "tryst with destiny," his high-flown speechifying was as suited to the tenor and need of the times as Sukarno's loopy, inventive acronyms.

• high-sounding
• inflated
• exalted
• elevated
• sublime
• grand
• high-minded
• lofty
• rarefied
• rarified
• idealistic
• noble-minded

News & Articles

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• Tom Elias: Same old self-interest, wrapped in the flag
  Never mind the high-flown rhetoric of a new Silicon Valley push on immigration. The campaign is using the same old say-anything political tactics that all big-money groups use to promote their own self-interest.
  June 18, 2013 - The Record Searchlight

Quotes

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• Sarah Palin in Christian Broadcasting Network
  Here's how I look at the choice Americans face in this election,Palin says. "Among politicians, there is the idealism of high-flown speechmaking, in which crowds are stirringly summoned to support great things. And then there is the...
• Bao Tong in Salem-News.Com
  He would occasionally speak some high-flown talk of democracy, but that was just to keep up his image as a man of the people, to win the affection of the people on behalf of the Party, but the charade was never to become a reality,Bao wrote....
• David Cameron in Bloomberg
  He said Cameron spoke "wonderfully about idealism and principle. But we've got to explain what that means. We cannot get by with high-flown words."