ostentatoire

Ostentatoire is a French adjective meaning designed to attract notice through visible display or showiness; it describes things or behavior that are deliberately conspicuous. The term typically carries a negative or critical connotation, implying pretension or excess, though it can be used descriptively without moral judgment in some contexts.

Etymology: It derives from the noun ostentation, and ultimately from Latin ostentare, “to show.”

Usage and examples: In architecture, decoration, fashion, or rhetoric, ostentatoire characterizes elements that seek to demonstrate wealth, status, or power. In critiques of art or design, the label may indicate that ornament is excessively elaborate or intended primarily to impress. In everyday language, it can describe people who display wealth or taste in an ostentatious way. In English, the closest equivalent is ostentatious; the terms share a negative undertone in both languages.

See also: ostentation; ostentatiousness; conspicuous consumption.