Tudor & Stuart · word · noun, verb
Gasconade
gas-kuh-NAYD /ɡæskəˈneɪd/pronunciation given by a dictionary
First recorded1652
Boastful talk; bluster or bravado. From French gasconnade, 'talking like a Gascon', because people from Gascony were proverbially boastful. As a verb (from 1727), to brag.
Where it was first recorded
Thomas Urquhart, 1652, per the current OED; older dictionaries gave 1709.
Also spelled: gasconnade, Gasconad
In its own time
He was disconcerted at this declaration, to which he made no reply, but repaired to the dancers, among whom he recounted his victory with many exaggerations and gasconades
Today
Modern exampleThe candidate's speech was pure gasconade: big promises, no plans.
Fine to use, in a literary register, for bragging or bluster.
Built on an old regional stereotype of Gascons (people from Gascony in France) as braggarts; it is not a slur, and today simply means boastful talk.
Questions
What does gasconade mean?
Boastful talk; bluster or bravado. From French gasconnade, 'talking like a Gascon', because people from Gascony were proverbially boastful. As a verb (from 1727), to brag.
When was gasconade first used?
It is first recorded 1652 — Thomas Urquhart, 1652, per the current OED; older dictionaries gave 1709.
Can you still use gasconade today?
Fine to use, in a literary register, for bragging or bluster.
Sources
- gasconade — Online Etymology Dictionary
- gasconade — Merriam-Webster
- A Dictionary of the English Language, Samuel Johnson, 1755, vol. 1 — Internet Archive (scan + OCR)
- gasconade — Wiktionary
- The Adventures of Roderick Random, Tobias Smollett — Project Gutenberg eBook #4085
- gasconade (current OED, earliest evidence) — Oxford English Dictionary
Checked 2026-09-30 · verdict: attested — found in the dictionaries and texts listed above