Meaning & use
Panjandrum
Last updated
A self-important person who claims or is granted excessive power or authority.
See it in a sentence
The new office manager acted like a grand panjandrum, demanding approval for every minor decision.
Satirists loved mocking the pompous panjandrums of the royal court.
A note on using this word
The word was invented in 1755 by English playwright Samuel Foote as a piece of deliberate nonsense in a memory-test passage, and it later stuck as a mock title for pompous officials.
Words with a similar meaning
bigwigmogul
Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.
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