One that use unfamiliar/bombastic words to influence others. Any good word for this?

Question

What is other 'correct word' or 'concise sentence' for those who use the unfamiliar intelectual words or bombastic vocabs to make the listeners clueless or simply to convince/impress others?

And is there any name/word for such person?

Thanks for your reply. (I hope you understand my question)

Answer 1

That would count as obfuscation. I thought your description was exactly what obfuscation meant, but when I checked the dictionary, it turns out that obfuscation could involve any attempt to present information in a way that confuses people, and would not be strictly limited to big words.

If you were just trying to impress people by using big words, though, and you wanted them to understand what you're saying, wouldn't really obfuscation.

Hehe. Or my husband suggests the right word may be "vocabulophile" but I think he is making that up.

Answer 2

Most people adjust their vocabulary to suit the listener. Occasionally one misreads the level of the listener's knowledge and uses words they might not know. The listener can always ask what they mean or look them up in a dictionary.

Increasing your vocabulary is a good thing, not something to be avoided. Shakespeare used tens of thousands of different words and he was writing for the common people - who understood him. Perhaps they were better educated in those days.

Answer 3

How are words that are unfamiliar going to influence anybody? Words must be understood to have an influence.

Now there are a lot of people who use verbose language in an attempt to impress others, but they usually fail.

Answer 4

obscurantist ?

Answer 5

pretentious or pedantic.....yeah, pedantic is best.